When Robin Williams died in August there was an outpouring of grief, disbelief and finally, celebration. While in recent years Williams’ television work may have been overshadowed by his film appearances (including academy award nominations and awards), it was the small screen with its continued intimacy, domesticity and interaction that showcased his talent following his death.

The difference between commemoration of the fiftieth anniversaries of Doctor Who last year and The Wednesday Play in 2014 could hardly have been more marked. I feel as though I have lived through general elections that got less press coverage than the Doctor Who anniversary, while the only attention given to The Wednesday Play was half a dozen BFI screenings; no repeats, no books, no documentaries.

Gerry and Sylvia Anderson began making puppet series for British television in the 1950s, and by the end of the 1960s, their company had made Supercar , Fireball XL5 , Stingray , Thunderbirds , Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and Joe 90 . Anderson’s last puppet series of the decade was The Secret Service , blending live action with

Now that I’m moving between part-time academic posts in three countries, I’m lucky, needy, or nerdy enough, to look for, accept, or leap at short-term opportunities. This week I’m a visitor at the Advanced Cultural Studies Institute of Sweden in Nörrkoping. Last week I did the same thing at Chile’s Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso.

In the most recent episode of Matt Berry’s sitcom Toast of London, the titular thespian demonstrated a lamentable (though characteristic) disengagement from his profession by several times announcing: ‘I never watch the television. Though I have heard that Breaking Bad is very good.’ Ah, Breaking Bad; I’ve only seen the episodes I’ve had to teach, so maybe I’m the one who’s disengaged. To be honest, I’d much rather watch a bit of ‘old’ TV.

The objects of two of my fandoms – Doctor Who and The Archers – have been in the news in the past few months because of cast changes. Tom Graham, who has played Tom Archer in the BBC radio soap for 17 years, took to Twitter last month to announce that he had been ditched by the show’s producers who were looking to re-cast the role.

Like many music fans, I spent the last weekend of June glued to the box, watching the BBC’s extensive coverage of Glastonbury. Actually, to call their coverage ‘extensive’ is something of an understatement. Over four days, the Beeb broadcast more than 250 hours of live music performances across television, radio, red button and online services. In excess of 100 acts were filmed exclusively for the corporation.

As a fan of the teen drama series genre, I’ve been following E4’s recent offering, Glue (2014),* *with keen interest. Set in an English rural community, Glue is a teen/crime drama generic hybrid. The series’ over-arching narrative, stretching across all 8 episodes, centres around the death and subsequent murder investigation of a 14 year old boy.

WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR THE WALKING DEAD AND GOTHAM About a year ago, I posted a column about the current state of television and wondered if we were at a crossroads with anti-heroes and the television drama.  I feel inclined to revisit those questions, particularly after a recent episode of The Walking Dead , “Four Walls and a Roof.”

The first episode of EastEnders was broadcast on BBC1 on 19 February 1985. Created by Tony Holland and Julia Smith, the serial is set in the fictional London borough of Walford. It is shot on a purpose-built outside set at Elstree Studios and also interior television studios on the site. The task of the first episode of any soap is to introduce location, characters and storylines, and to set a tone for the drama.

One thing is for sure: World War 1 is not going to disappear from our screens any time soon. It’s there on all channels from CBeebies and BBC3 to ITV and the more specialist Discovery and History channels. The BBC has entered into full public service mode with over 130 new commissions and over 2,500 hours of programming across four years.