Television is unique in its ability to produce so much pleasure for such a wide variety of people. This book looks at television's role as an agent of popular culture, and goes on to consider the relationship between this cultural dimension and television's status as a commodity of the cultural industries that are deeply inscribed with capitalism.

Television Personalities offers an exciting, engaging approach to studying and understanding the most prominent and popular performers in television and celebrity culture.

A guide that covers various aspects of television studies. It covers aspects such as: theoretical perspectives which have shaped the study of television - Marxism; semiology; feminism concepts which have shaped the study of television - narrative; representation; bias television genres - soap opera; news; and, others.

With a case study of the Asian community in Southall, Marie Gillespie examines how television and video are being used to recreate cultural traditions and catalyse cultural change in such communities.