This article contains spoilers for The Tower  I watch a lot more British TV shows than the ones I’m assigned to write about. This new blog series Streaming Adventures will feature reviews of new releases and first-time viewings of older series on streaming services.  I watched The Tower Season 1 on US BritBox as soon as it premiered in December 2021. I never read Kate Harbison’s novels but I recognized Jimmy Ackinbola and Gemma Whelan from previous roles. I liked Season 1 overall for discussing and critiquing police institutional racism, sexism, and hierarchy.  The Tower Season ..read more

Note: This is the text version of my presentation at Gallifrey One 2023’s TARDIS Talks. The TARDIS Talks are a series of academic articles and research about Doctor Who and the fandom around it. Recordings are not allowed so this is a public record of what I said for those who weren’t at the convention. Please link back to this page if you are citing this post in your own work.    I’m a huge fan of both the historical-set modern Doctor Who episodes and British television period dramas and how each approaches historical fiction on screen. During the lockdown, when I would watch Doctor ..read more

NOTE: This is an archive copy of the text of my presentation at Gallifrey One 2020 TARDIS Talks. This text has not been edited to reflect current research/news updates.  Abstract “The Shakespeare Code”, Thin Ice, and The Witchfinders have vastly different plots as historical episodes but one element unites them. While Martha, Bill, and Ryan had varied experiences, each of these episodes featured a Black companion interacting with British history. Although people of African descent have lived in England since the Roman Era, many people only associate the presence of Black British people s ..read more

Disclaimer: I don’t work for any studios, networks or streaming companies, I work in the US media outside fandom and review TV shows. I’m a diehard fan who has spent years tracking this issue and can detect patterns. This series does NOT go into detail about movie licensing which is a separate issue. If you are a current or former employee of a studio, network, or streaming service and see a pressing error that you can correct without getting in trouble, please email me at info [at] amandarareprescott dot com to get in touch.  If you haven’t yet, read Part 1 and Part 2 in this series. N ..read more

Disclaimer: I don’t work for any studios, networks, or streaming companies, I work in the US media outside fandom and review TV shows. I’m a diehard fan who has spent years tracking this issue and can detect patterns. This series does NOT go into detail about movie licensing which is a separate issue. If you are a current or former employee of a studio, network, or streaming service and see a pressing error that you can correct without getting in trouble, please email me at info at amandarareprescott dot com to get in touch.    If you’re reading this, you must be a fan of UK Televi ..read more

Sanditon fans today are celebrating BritBox UK replacing ITV as the UK sponsor for Seasons 2 and 3 of the series. Without BritBox UK, it wouldn’t be possible for Masterpiece to fund the production alone, despite US fan interest. Congratulations to the cast and crew who worked really hard to promote their work in the middle of a pandemic! However, as someone who has been a consistent critic of this fandom’s attitudes towards both the renewal campaign and towards racist fandom behavior, today’s victory comes with the sting of revisiting past trauma, not just hopes of a brighter future for the ..read more

If you’re reading this, you are hopefully a fan of UK television but live in the United States. There are so many streaming and broadcast networks vying for UK TV programs but very few efforts to consolidate as many as possible into one place. Watching on this side of the pond is also difficult as we have to wait months, even years between the UK and US releases. We want to support our favorite actors and creatives but they’re often caught in the middle of an extremely messy web of networks, streaming services, and studios. This explainer in several parts will hopefully demystify some of the ..read more