No Other Way To Tell It: Dramadoc/Docudrama on TelevisionDrama documentary is a program category unique to television. Combining the factual approach of documentary with the entertainment values of drama, dramadoc/docudrama has featured in television schedules for over forty years, and has often been the focus of controversy. Questions are frequently asked about how the viewer is to judge between fact and fiction, and whether such programs invade individuals’ privacy. No Other Way to Tell It is an introductory book which defines the form, and reviews its history and development on British and American television. The people who make the programs--television producers, writers, actors and lawyers--give their views, and recent co-production work between Granada TV in Britain and Home Box Office in America is examined. Hostages, a co-production which was bitterly opposed by the British and American hostages released from captivity in Beirut at the beginning of the decade, is used to illustrate the changes that are now taking place within the medium. |
Contents
Dramadocdocudrama preparation and production | 13 |
Dramadocdocudrama the law and regulation | 36 |
Codes and conventions | 61 |
Keywords | 90 |
Blurring the boundaries | 116 |
Histories | 140 |
High conceptlow concept the modern trauma drama | 170 |
Futures only one way to it? | 195 |
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Common terms and phrases
actors actual American docudrama Amy Fisher Armstrong Circle Theatre audience become Beirut Brian Keenan Britain British dramadoc broadcasting camera campaign caption Cathy Come Home Chapter characters claim co-production codes and conventions controversial cultural current affairs debate docu docudrama documen documentary drama documentary film drama-documentary dramadoc dramadoc/docudrama dramatised story documentary ethical evidence example fact Fighting for Gemma footage genre Goodbye My Love Goodenough Goodwin and Kerr Granada Griersonian Hillsborough Hostages Ian McBride institutions Jeremy Sandford Jill Morrell John journalistic Kathy Bates Keenan kind lawyers Leslie Woodhead made-for-TV movie material McCarthy mentary narrative offered organisation Palmer performance phrase play practice pro-filmic producers programme makers protagonists real-world reality rehearsal says scene screen script Sita Williams social studio style tary tele television drama television's theatre theatrical tion tradition transmission trauma drama words World in Action writer