Prof Jamie Medhurst

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

Prof Jamie Medhurst

Professor of Media and Communication

Acting Head of Department (Theatre, Film & Television Studies)

Department of Theatre, Film & Television Studies

Contact Details

Profile

I have been a member of staff in the Department since 1996 (Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader, and now Professor of Media and Communication) 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, August 2018 - January 2019, and August 2022-July 2023). I'm married and have two sons and a daughter.... and a host of pets! Outside of work I enjoy watching rugby, coarse fishing, spending time with the children, playing the organ and occasionally preaching at Eglwys St Mair in Aberystwyth. During December, a large part of my time is spent in a bright red and white fur suit, black boots and false white beard.

Additional Information

I am a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and of the Higher Education Academy and am an external examiner at Birkbeck, University of London (BA Film and Media) and the University of Liverpool (BA Communication and Media). I have examined around 17 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.

Teaching

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Lecturer
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I teach in the areas of broadcasting history, media policy, media and politics, the political economy of the media, media archives, and documentary film history.

Research

My research interests include broadcasting history; media policy; film and media archives; media and society in Wales; media in the devolved nations; documentary film history. My latest book, The Early Years of Television and the BBC was published by Edinburgh University Press in June 2022.

I am currently working on a number of books/projects:

Programmes, Protest, and Politics: broadcasting and society in Wales in the 1970s (book to be published by the University of Wales Press in 2025)

Free Cinema: critical perspectives (book to be published in 2026)

Audiences, Identities, and the BBC in Wales, 1923-2023 (book to be published in 2028)

Entangled Media Histories (a research project with colleagues in Macquarie, Lund, and Hamburg universities)

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

Research Supervision

Huw Penallt Jones (PhD by publication)

Lucy McFadzean (AHRC studentship): ‘Community, politics and the economy in the cultural policies of the Greater London Council 1981-6.’

Gregor Cameron: ‘Re-performing Who: Tracing Theatre Technique Through Television Time’

Donald F. McLean (PhD by publication): ‘Investigations into the emergence of British television, 1926-1936’

Dafydd Sills-Jones: ‘History Documentary on UK Terrestrial Television, 1982-2002.’

I have examined over 20 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

Publications

Medhurst, J, 100 Voices that made the BBC: Entertaining the Nation, 2021, Web publication/site, British Broadcasting Corporation, 2021. <https://www.bbc.com/historyofthebbc/100-voices/entertaining-the-nation>
Medhurst, J 2021, 'Reviews: JOHN ORMOND'S ORGANIC MOSAIC: POETRY, DOCUMENTARY, NATION', Welsh History Review, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 424-425. 10.16922/whr.30.3.5
Medhurst, J 2020, The BBC and the origins and development of the notion of public service broadcasting. in G Fournier (ed.), La BBC et le service public de l'audiovisuel 1922-1995. Agregation Anglais, Ellipses, Paris, pp. 7-16.
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., 32, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 637-652. 10.1017/9781316227206.034
Medhurst, J, The History of the BBC: Ally Pally, 2018, Web publication/site. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/birth-of-tv/ally-pally>
More publications on the Research Portal