The definitive guide to hundreds of Britain’s most outstanding gardens, in the care of the National TrustThe National Trust has the finest collection of gardens in the United Kingdom. In this book, Stephen Lacey paints a vivid picture of the individual gardens, and places each one in its context within British horticultural history.All the major periods and styles of garden design are represented, from the formality of early gardens such as Hanbury Hall and Ham House, magni...

Stephen Lacey is quite possibly the most neurotic human being on the planet. A bundle of depression, anxiety and hives, he wonders whether he's cut out to be a father. In fact, he's not even sure he likes children.Henry Loves Jazz is a fly-on-the-wall account of what happens when Henry, his first-born child, comes home: the sleepless nights, exploding eco-nappies, celebrity chef cookbooks, black jellybeans and giant Mexican tarantulas.Henry Loves Jazz is n...

Tony Garnett is the first book-length study of one of the most respected and prolific producers working in British television. From ground-breaking dramas from the 1960s such as Up the Junction and Cathy Come Home to the 'must see' series in the 1990s and 2000s such as This Life and The Cops, Garnett has produced some of the most important and influential British television drama.This book charts Garnett's career from his early days as an actor to his position as executive producer...

A Shakespeare scholar and Professor of English at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, discusses the relevance of literature in terms of its psychological value. His talk is illustrated with historical and anecdotal references to the life and works of Shakespeare, the Jacobeans, Samuel Johnson, Proust and others

A hybrid combination of 1970s police series and science fiction time travel, Life on Mars (Kudos/BBC Wales 2006-07) exemplifies the capacity of contemporary British television to find a loyal audience for work that it is innovative and unsettling. The programme rapidly garnered both critical and popular attention, regularly gaining in excess of 7m viewers. It was also screened internationally, including on US network television. An American remake was broadcast in 2008-9, and a Spanish ver...

This book explores the ways in which television has engaged directly and indirectly with the new realities of the post-9/11 world. It offers detailed analysis of a number of key programmes and series that engage with, or are haunted by, the aftermath of the events of September 11 in the USA and what is unavoidably through problematically and contentiously referred to as the resulting ‘war on terror’.The substantive part of the book is a series of independent chapters, each written ...

The British `New Wave' of dramatists, actors and directors in the late 1950s and 1960s created a defining moment in post-war theatre. British Realist Theatre is an accessible introduction to the New Wave, providing the historical and cultural background which is essential for a true understanding of this influential and dynamic era.Drawing upon contemporary sources as well as the plays themselves, Stephen Lacey considers the plays' influences, their impact and their critica...

If I touch her...my life is ruined.She’s smart, beautiful, and just my type.She’s also barely legal. The very definition of forbidden fruit. And I don’t just want a bite; I want to devour her.Now she is standing before me, her gorgeous eyes filled with tears. She’s in trouble. She has a stalker, a dangerous one, and he’s getting closer. She needs my help.She’s too innocent to know she should be more afraid of me.I can no longer restrain myself. I’m a...

Within the last ten years there has been a renaissance in Irish drama from both sides of the border, including award-winning work which has transfered to London and New York, and has toured Britain as well as Europe and Australia. This book explores the dynamics of the relationship between these representations of Ireland and the fluid nature of cultural identity, especially during a period of economic and political change. Although the book establishes the historical context for contempor...

J. B. Priestley is the first book to provide a detailed and up to date analysis of the enormous contribution made by this playwright, novelist, journalist and critic to twentieth century British theatre.Priestley was often criticised for being either too populist or too experimental and this study unpicks the contradictions of a playwright and theatre theorist popular with audiences but too often dismissed by critics; describing and analysing in detail not only his plays b...

In the fifties British cinema won large audiences with popular war films and comedies, creating stars such as Dirk Bogarde and Kay Kendall, and introducing the stereotypes of war hero, boffin and comic bureaucrat which still help to define images of British national identity. In British Cinema in the Fifties, Christine Geraghty examines some of the most popular films of this period, exploring the ways in which they approached contemporary social issues such as national identity, t...

The media have played a significant role in the contested and changing social position of women in Britain since the 1900s. They have facilitated feminism by both providing discourses and images from which women can construct their identities, and offering spaces where hegemonic ideas of femininity can be reworked. This volume is intended to provide an overview of work on Broadcasting, Film and Print Media from 1900, while appealing to scholars of History and Media, Film and Cultural Studi...