The Television Series * Terry Nation * Jimmy Perry and David Croft * Alan Clarke * Andrew Davies * Lynda La Plante

Who is responsible for – who has authority over – a television series? This is just one key question which Jonathan Bignell's and Sarah Cardwell's The Television Series sets out to address. Following a period in which the death of the author has been much vaunted, this new series tackles head-on the issue of authorial contribution, not only of writers, historically privileged in television, but also of other production personnel. Each book is fluently and directly written, unpacking concepts with clarity and illustrating them with analysis of programme extracts. Most include small black-and-white photographs to illustrate points under discussion. The volumes typically follow a chronology tracing their subject's career development in the television industry (and briefly beyond, where the practitioners have worked in other media). Full details of the subject's television output are listed at the end of each book along with substantial bibliographies referencing works in the chosen conceptual framework besides source material on the subject. For example, Simon Morgan-Russell references a number of key works on sitcom in his bibliography as well as books and essays on English class hierarchies, which are a core concern, as demonstrated in Perry and Croft's writing. Primary sources include interviews with the subjects (where this is still possible) and archive material. With the exception of Alan Clarke, the volumes reviewed here feature writers (or writer/producers and writer/script editors), but Dave Rolinson's analysis of Clarke's career makes a strong case for the possibility of a distinct form of directorial auteurism in television. Indeed, each volume contributing to The Television Series sets out to provide ‘an authoritative guide to a practitioner's body of work, and assesses his or her contribution to television over the years’ (General editors' preface). Forthcoming volumes in the series will include Lez Cooke on Troy Kennedy Martin and Stephen Lacey on Tony Garnett

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