Dr Jamie Medhurst

BA (Hons), MLib, PhD, FRHistS, FHEA

Dr Jamie Medhurst

Reader in Television and Media History

Department of Theatre, Film & Television Studies

Contact Details

Profile

PLEASE NOTE THAT I AM ON RESEARCH LEAVE FROM 1 FEBRUARY 2019 - 31 JANUARY 2020.

I have been a member of staff in the Department since 1996 (Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and now Reader) and before that was Tutor in Information Studies in the Department of Information Studies (1993-96) teaching on media information sources and services. I have undertaken various administrative and managerial roles during my time in Aberystwyth: Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Arts (2005-2008), Departmental Director of Learning and Teaching (2007-2010) and Head of Department (January 2011 - July 2014 and August 2018 - January 2019). I'm married and have two daughters and a son .... and a host of pets! Outside of work I enjoy watching rugby, following the ups and downs of Tottenham Hotspur FC, spending time with the children, and playing the organ (and occasionally preaching) at St Michael's Church in Aberystwyth.

Additional Information

I am a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of the Higher Education Academy and am an external examiner at the University of Stirling (MSc Media Management) and Edge Hill University (BA Film, Television and Media). I have examined around 15 PhD theses as external examiner in universities in the UK and Australia. I have reviewed papers for Contemporary Wales, Critical Studies in Television, Media History and Twentieth Century British History together with book proposals for Routledge, Sage Publications and Palgrave-Macmillan. I am an Honorary Associate of the Centre for Media History, Maquarie University, Australia and a member of the Institute of Welsh Affairs Media Policy Group. I am a member of the National Library of Wales' Broadcast Archive Expert Advisory Board, the 'Connected Histories of the BBC' Advisory Board, and the Steering Committee of the Entangled Media Histories (EMHIS) research network (https://emhis.blogg.lu.se/).

Teaching

Module Coordinator
Coordinator
Lecturer

Research

Television history; the history of public service broadcasting (PSB); media history and historiography; television archives; media and society in Wales.

I am currently working on four projects:

The Early Years of Television and the BBC (book to be published by Edinburgh University Press in 2020)

A Decade of Change: television and society in Wales in the 1970s (book to be published by the University of Wales Press in 2022)

Public Service Broadcasting in Britain, 1960-1990 

British Documentary from Cinema to Television

External Research Grants/Awards:

Arts and Humanities Research Council (£23,230), September 2008-January 2009 - research leave to complete a book (A History of Independent Television in Wales, 1956-1968).

British Academy Small Research Grant (£3117), November 2008-August 2009 - 'The Early Years of Television and the BBC, 1923-1939'.

British Academy Overseas Conference Grant (£200), 'Television: the experimental moment 1935-1955', University of Paris 8, 27-29 May 2009.

Arts and Humanities Research Council (£33,000), February 2010-January 2012 - international research network on broadcasting history.

Leverhulme Trust Research Project Grant (£113,813), September 2016-August 2019 - Television and Society in Wales in the 1970s

MPhil/PhD
supervision and examining

I have supervised - and am supervising - a number of MPhil and PhD students. I have examined a number of PhD theses in areas including public service broadcasting, Welsh language journalism, local radio in England, representations of Wales in documentary and interactive television drama. I would be interested to hear from any potential research students wishing to explore any aspect of media history/policy or issues surrounding media and national identity.

Responsibilities

Departmental Senior Tutor (Semester 2)

Degree Scheme Coordinator, Media and Communication Studies (Semester 2)

Co-Director of the University's Centre for Media History

Editor-in-Chief, Media History

Research Groups

Office Hours (Student Contact Times)

  • Monday 11.00-13.00
  • Wednesday 10.00-12.00

Publications

Medhurst, J 2019, Theatre, Film and Television in Wales in the Twentieth Century. in G Evans & H Fulton (eds), The Cambridge History of Welsh Literature. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 637-652. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316227206
Medhurst, J 2018, 'Mea Maxima Culpa: John Reith and the development of television' Media History, vol. 25, no. 4. https://doi.org/10.1080/13688804.2018.1530976
Medhurst, J, The History of the BBC: Ally Pally, 2018, Web publication/site.
Medhurst, J 2017, ''What a Hullabaloo!': Launching BBC Television in 1936 and BBC2 in 1964' Journal of British Cinema and Television.
Medhurst, J 2016, Beveridge and Broadcasting in the 1950s. in J Medhurst, S Nicholas & T O'Malley (eds), Broadcasting in the 1950s in the UK and US: Historical Perspectives. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne, pp. 29-47.
More publications on the Research Portal