Armchair Cinema

Sheldon Hall is an Emeritus Fellow at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. A former film journalist, he has contributed to numerous books and journals on British and American cinema. He is the author of Armchair Cinema: A History of Feature Films on British Television, 1929-1981 (EUP, 2024) and Zulu: With Some Guts Behind It (2005/2014), co-author of Epics, Spectacles, and Blockbusters: A Hollywood History (2010), and co-editor of Widescreen Worldwide (2010).

• List of IllustrationsIntroduction: Meet Mr Lucifer – Cinema, Television and Films on TVPart One: Organisations and AcquisitionChapter 1: The Magic Box – Television, Tele-Cinema and Tele-Talkies (1929-39)Chapter 2: The Smallest Show on Earth – Cinema versus Television (1945-52)Chapter 3: Network – The BBC at Bay, ITV Begins (1952-58)Chapter 4: The Empire Strikes Back – The FIDO Saga (1958-64)Chapter 5: The Great Escape – Emptying the Vaults (1964-73)Chapter 6: The Sound of Wind – Blockbusters on the Box (1973-81)Part Two: Programming and RegulationChapter 7: Saturday Night and Sunday Afternoon – Scheduling Films on TelevisionChapter 8: The Home and the World – Foreign-Language Films on TelevisionChapter 9: The Rules of the Game – Regulating Films on TelevisionChapter 10: Appointments with Fear – Horror Films on TelevisionChapter 11: Abridged Too Far – Editing and Censorship of Films for TelevisionChapter 12: Witnesses for the Prosecution – Report on ReportsEpilogue: Things to Come – Into the EightiesAppendix 1: BBC Film StatisticsAppendix 2: ITV Film StatisticsAppendix 3: FIDO FilmographyAppendix 4: List of AbbreviationsAppendix 5: List of PersonnelBibliographyFilmographyGeneral Index

Often uneasy bedfellows, cinema and television have nonetheless always been in a relationship. In Armchair Cinema, Sheldon Hall’s meticulous archival research informs an illuminating history of where many films find their biggest audience – at home. This is the untold story of feature films on the small screen in Britain (1929-1981).