Melissa Beattie
Biographic Data
| ID | 3687878 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Melissa Beattie |
| GIVEN NAMES | Melissa |
| FAMILY NAME | Beattie |
| SIGNATURE | BEATTIE M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Film Independent |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1466-8338 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 10 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2022 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
It’s like a hex’
Though arguably an ensemble series, BBC spy drama Spooks (2002–11) often focused upon a single character as its ostensible lead. As such, this article focuses upon one of those leads, Tom Quinn, who was the leader of Section A from Season 1, Episode 1, to Season 3, Episode 2 (with a brief appearance in the series finale; Season 10, Episode 6). I will argue that the series uses Gothic tropes throughout these episodes to illustrate and make intelli…
You can’t do that’? The ambiguities of Wet and Messy fetish videos
In-Between
(Post-)Colonial Violence
The period crime drama Ripper Street (BBC/multiple production partners, 2012–2016) engages in a variety of postcolonial sociocultural critiques. One of these areas of critique includes the moral injury/-ies suffered by Sergeant (later Inspector) Bennet Drake (played by Jerome Flynn), who served in Sudan and Egypt as part of the colonial military before becoming a police officer. Often called upon to engage in what would now be considered police b…
Who wants to be a (fan of) Millionaire? Representation and reconsideration in ITV’s Quiz
The three-part miniseries Quiz (ITV 2020) dramatizes the scandal surrounding purported cheating on the series Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (hereafter WWtBaM ) in 2001. This article shall examine specific discourses which the miniseries portrays and critiques, in particular the representation of fans, the dramatized preconceptions about fans by the WWtBaM production team and television as a manipulative, profit-driven medium. It ultimately connec…
‘I’d castrate you and marry you in a heartbeat’
Critically acclaimed transnational (United States/United Kingdom) drama Succession (2017–23) utilizes classical references combined (arguably juxtaposed) with queerness and insecurities about masculinity/-ties and orientation within its satirical representation of corporate culture. While connecting quality television to British period dramas and queerness, especially on HBO, is relatively common, the series uses phallic discourses not only to il…
Good clean fun
Wet and Messy (WAM) is a sexual fetish that involves the use of food, water or other messy items and has a number of elements in common with bondage-discipline, domination-submission, sadomasochism (BDSM). WAM pornography contains elements associated with slapstick comedy as well. In this article I illustrate how Williams’ work on pornography, Peacock’s work on slapstick comedy and Hills’ work on affective play can be used to analyse power and pl…
Something else’
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency is both a successful series of novels and a television series which ran for one series on the BBC in 2008. While the books have been criticised on a number of aspects, including its representation of Botswana, the television series has received very little academic attention at all. The television series was an international co-production between the United States, United Kingdom and South Africa, using a mix of…
That's good
Despite critical and popular acclaim, the travel/food television series of Anthony Bourdain have not received much academic attention. This paper examines the negotiations required of the series' production team with regard to industry and ethics, including engagement with multiple forms of 'quality' to acquire audience share, which can exist in tension with the ethical requirements of veracity and protecting factual media subjects from harm. Ult…
‘You can get it if you really want?’
Set on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie and filmed on Guadeloupe, British/French co-production Death in Paradise (2011–present) frequently uses reggae, amongst other perceived local styles, as its diegetic and non-diegetic music. Reggae is historically a music of resistance, specifically resistance to oppression by White colonial power structures. That a British/French co-production uses reggae to reinforce an elided pan-Caribbean lo…
Good clean fun
Wet and Messy (WAM) is a sexual fetish that involves the use of food, water or other messy items and has a number of elements in common with bondage-discipline, domination-submission, sadomasochism (BDSM). WAM pornography contains elements associated with slapstick comedy as well. In this article I illustrate how Williams’ work on pornography, Peacock’s work on slapstick comedy and Hills’ work on affective play can be used to analyse power and pl…
‘You can get it if you really want?’
Set on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie and filmed on Guadeloupe, British/French co-production Death in Paradise (2011–present) frequently uses reggae, amongst other perceived local styles, as its diegetic and non-diegetic music. Reggae is historically a music of resistance, specifically resistance to oppression by White colonial power structures. That a British/French co-production uses reggae to reinforce an elided pan-Caribbean lo…
Who wants to be a (fan of) Millionaire? Representation and reconsideration in ITV’s Quiz
The three-part miniseries Quiz (ITV 2020) dramatizes the scandal surrounding purported cheating on the series Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (hereafter WWtBaM ) in 2001. This article shall examine specific discourses which the miniseries portrays and critiques, in particular the representation of fans, the dramatized preconceptions about fans by the WWtBaM production team and television as a manipulative, profit-driven medium. It ultimately connec…
‘I’d castrate you and marry you in a heartbeat’
Critically acclaimed transnational (United States/United Kingdom) drama Succession (2017–23) utilizes classical references combined (arguably juxtaposed) with queerness and insecurities about masculinity/-ties and orientation within its satirical representation of corporate culture. While connecting quality television to British period dramas and queerness, especially on HBO, is relatively common, the series uses phallic discourses not only to il…
Good clean fun
Wet and Messy (WAM) is a sexual fetish that involves the use of food, water or other messy items and has a number of elements in common with bondage-discipline, domination-submission, sadomasochism (BDSM). WAM pornography contains elements associated with slapstick comedy as well. In this article I illustrate how Williams’ work on pornography, Peacock’s work on slapstick comedy and Hills’ work on affective play can be used to analyse power and pl…
Something else’
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency is both a successful series of novels and a television series which ran for one series on the BBC in 2008. While the books have been criticised on a number of aspects, including its representation of Botswana, the television series has received very little academic attention at all. The television series was an international co-production between the United States, United Kingdom and South Africa, using a mix of…
That's good
Despite critical and popular acclaim, the travel/food television series of Anthony Bourdain have not received much academic attention. This paper examines the negotiations required of the series' production team with regard to industry and ethics, including engagement with multiple forms of 'quality' to acquire audience share, which can exist in tension with the ethical requirements of veracity and protecting factual media subjects from harm. Ult…
(Post-)Colonial Violence
The period crime drama Ripper Street (BBC/multiple production partners, 2012–2016) engages in a variety of postcolonial sociocultural critiques. One of these areas of critique includes the moral injury/-ies suffered by Sergeant (later Inspector) Bennet Drake (played by Jerome Flynn), who served in Sudan and Egypt as part of the colonial military before becoming a police officer. Often called upon to engage in what would now be considered police b…
It’s like a hex’
Though arguably an ensemble series, BBC spy drama Spooks (2002–11) often focused upon a single character as its ostensible lead. As such, this article focuses upon one of those leads, Tom Quinn, who was the leader of Section A from Season 1, Episode 1, to Season 3, Episode 2 (with a brief appearance in the series finale; Season 10, Episode 6). I will argue that the series uses Gothic tropes throughout these episodes to illustrate and make intelli…
You can’t do that’? The ambiguities of Wet and Messy fetish videos
In-Between
Art (7 works) · Aesthetics (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Political science (5 works) · Psychology (5 works) · History (4 works) · Archaeology (3 works) · Cinema and Media Studies (3 works) · Drama (3 works) · Gender Studies (3 works)