The following playlists are just some of those available to view with a Learning on Screen subscription to Box of Broadcasts (BoB).
Our innovative Box of Broadcasts opens doors to a vast collection of educational media content, spanning various disciplines and topics. The playlists here have been specially curated by academics from diverse disciplines, and from the range of themes listed, you get a sense of the breadth and depth of the content covered.
As a subscriber you can create and share your own themed playlists of media content from within BoB for fellow teachers or students.
Art‚ Design and Photography
Architecture design
By Dr Valeria Carnevale, University of DerbyA series of documentaries, movies and clips to enhance the understanding of the design process and the making of architecture.
Photography
By David Chaplin, St Clare's, OxfordDocumentaries on the techniques, practice and history of photography, as well as individual photographers
Bill Douglas, a film artist
By Dr Phil Wickham, University of ExeterA taste of this extraordinary filmmaker and his passion for the power of the image, with three films inspired by his own deprived childhood in a mining village in Scotland
Business‚ Economics and Marketing
Entrepreneurs and innovators: From the Middle Ages to the Modern Day
By Dr Catherine Casson, The University of ManchesterA playlist to reveal the secrets of successful entrepreneurship, using examples from the middle ages to the modern day
Supply chain management
By Dr Sarah Schiffling, Liverpool John Moores UniversityA playlist that delves into issues such as ethics and sustainability that are growing concerns in modern supply chain management. Includes link to teaching activities.
The business of sport
By Dr Matthew Hindmarsh, Liverpool John Moores UniversityBy 2026 the value of the sports market industry is expected to surpass $700 billion; this playlist explores the big business that is sport business
Cultural studies
Feminisms and television history
By Gabii Rayner and Tabby Down, with Dr Hannah Hamad, Cardiff UniversitySome of the most iconic and historically significant feminist moments in British and US TV history of the past 50+ years.
Cultural studies and creative industries
By Professor Margaretta Jolly, University of SussexThis playlist includes amusing popular cultural interpretations of the class and identity relations in everyday life and brilliant documentaries on business.
Black British culture
By Iris Wakulenko, London College of CommunicationThis playlist is a starting point for students and teachers of documentary film and media studies to explore Black British history and culture.
Education and Pedagogy
Real life language
A BoB playlist curated by Liz Chiu, Imperial College LondonA playlist featuring unscripted British speech, especially useful for international students who need to acclimatise to the speed of ordinary speech.
Digital learning
By Dr Wayne Barry, Canterbury Christ Church UniversityThe effective use of technology is an important component in pedagogical practices that use personalised, blended, flipped, and hybrid learning approaches.
Teaching research methods through popular films
By Ninna Makrinov, Warwick UniversityThe use of popular films in teaching can act as an active learning method, and provide an opportunity for students to reflect deeply on issues covered in class.
English literature
Shakespeare: performance and politics
By Dr Ailsa Grant Ferguson, University of BrightonClips and programmes that consider Shakespeare’s place in contemporary performance and culture
BBC Radio Shakespeare
By Dr Andrea Smith, University of SuffolkA playlist that features over 100 audio productions of all Shakespeare’s plays
Essential Shakespeare
By Professor Nandini Das, University of Oxford, Exeter CollegeThis playlist includes resources within BoB that can help to support thinking about, and engaging with, Shakespeare’s plays in various ways.
Film and Media
Dramadocumentary
By Professor Dominic Wring, Loughborough UniversityAn influential as well as popular strand of television pioneered in Britain, it has provided opportunities for directors as well as audiences to explore controversial issues and events
Cinéma-monde: new directions in French and Film Studies
By Dr Jamie Steele, Bath Spa UniversityA playlist to introduce students to French-language cinema beyond the mainstream and expanding beyond Europe.
Experimental radio: Richard Hughes and The Comedy of Danger
By Emeritus Professor Tim Crook, Goldsmiths, University of LondonIncluding the only existing broadcast materials in the genre of grand guignol, which combined horror and thriller, by the poet, playwright and novelist Richard Hughes, including a 1974 recorded version of the original from 1924.
History and Geography
Geography: Using a GeoCapabilities approach for additional support needs students
By Don MacKeen, City of Glasgow CollegeLooking at how physical and human environments intersect and it is of vital importance for students to understand issues such as the climate emergency.
Africa, south of the Sahara
By Jennifer Skinner, Cambridge UniversityTo support the MPhil in African Studies at Cambridge University, and covering a range of African countries, this group of playlists shares television and radio programmes to help students understand key aspects of African history, politics, and society.
Chinese Whispers: China in Western Minds since 1300
By Dr Stephen McDowall, University of EdinburghThis playlist brings together examples of ‘China’ (very broadly conceived) as represented in Western film and television over the past century.
Journalism
Remote journalism
By Catriona Forrest, University of GlasgowExamples of journalism during a range of health crises, reporting from danger zones, war zones, or other hostile locations such as the scene of a natural disaster, or even the inside of prisons or corrupt organisations
AHRC Disinformation project examining UK manifesto policies
By Dr Marina Morani, Dr Nikki Soo and Professor Stephen Cushion, Cardiff UniversityClips retrieved from flagship television news programmes by main broadcasters in the UK from within the time period of the 2019 UK General Election campaign, that feature NHS claims made by the two main political parties, Labour and Conservatives.
Reporting of the Illegal Migration Bill in UK television news
By by Ellie Baskerville, Dr Marina Morani & Dr Lizzy Willmington, Cardiff UniversityExamining the way the Bill announced by the UK government on 7th March 2023 with the purpose to ‘prevent and deter unlawful migration’ is reported and scrutinised in UK TV news bulletins
Language studies
Welsh history, language and cultures/hanes, ieithoedd a diwylliannau Cymru
By Dr Lloyd Roderick, Aberystwyth UniversityA selection of programmes, in English and Welsh, to support the study of Wales, its language, histories and cultures
East Germany on-screen: before and after the end of Communism
By Dr Nick Hodgin, Cardiff UniversityOver 100 programmes in English and German for those with an interest in East German history, society and politics
National and transnational Spanish cinema
By Professor Nuria Triana Toribio, University of KentAudiovisual material to help to contextualise the study of Spanish-language cinema.
Law‚ Justice and Criminology
Law, race and decolonisation
By Dr Foluke Adebisi, University of BristolThis playlist aims to to unsettle the nexus between law, race and the differing schools of what is often called ‘decolonisation’.
Youth crime and justice
By Dr Jessica Urwin, University of LeicesterHow concerns about young people’s behaviour have been (mis)represented and sensationalised in broadcast media, making those concerns seem justified
Forensic psychology
By Dr Kendra Meyer, Kingston UniversityForensic psychology is often misinterpreted, misunderstood and inaccurately portrayed in the media and entertainment world. This playlist seeks to address this.
Medicine‚ Health and Life sciences
Biology in broadcast media
By Dr Chris Willmott, University of LeicesterTV and radio programmes showcasing developments in biology and biomedicine for teaching and learning in Biology
HIV and AIDS: fear, community and hope
By Ant Babajee, Middlesex UniversityA collection of documentaries and dramas for World AIDS Day and beyond, of interest to health and social care students, as well as those in fields such as sociology and politics
Co-ordinating complex care: nursing (mental health)
By Assistant Professor Victoria Skerrett, University of BirminghamSupporting the teaching of the Mental Health Nursing, a selection of programmes that focus on key topics such as psychosis, perinatal mental health, eating disorders and the impact of domestic abuse.
Performing arts
Popular music, media and culture
By Dr Lucy Bennett, Cardiff UniversityA BoB playlist curated by Dr Lucy Bennett, Cardiff University
Literature and dance
By Dr Lynsey McCulluch, Coventry UniversityA playlist to explore and the long and fascinating history relationship between literature and dance
Women writing TV comedy in the UK
By Dr Laura Minor, Salford UniversityExamples of UK television comedy – sketch shows, sitcoms, and dramedies – created by women
Politics
Intelligence in contemporary politics
By Dr Claudia Hillebrand, Cardiff UniversityDocumentaries and fictional accounts which relate to the work of intelligence agencies, and its role in contemporary politics
Chinese politics and society
By Thomas R Johnson, University of SheffieldVideo resources related to developments in Chinese politics and society, including both documentaries and news bulletins.
Postcolonial Film and Geopolitical Contestation
By Dr Alex Hastie, Coventry UniversityFilms that re-tell Algerian histories of resistance and anti-colonialism in WWII and the Algerian War of Independence, that may aid the teaching of popular geopolitics and postcolonial film
Social science
Race and ethnicity on British TV 1970-1995
Curated by Dr Gil Toffell, Learning on ScreenTelevision programming in the quarter century from 1970-1995 that provided space for minority ethnic voices and experience in Britain
Gender, media and society: contemporary issues and debates
By Professor Karen Ross, Newcastle UniversityProviding a range of perspectives on the ways in which sex and gender are discussed and described in mainstream media broadcasts, on both TV and radio.
Poverty and inequality: UK insights
By Dr Lee Gregory, University of NottinghamDevelop a critical understanding of the widespread challenges which are impacting the ability to survive in contemporary UK society, and the various debates about how to best respond to these challenges.
Theology and Philosophy
Feminist film-philosophy
By Dr Lucy Bolton, Queen Mary University of LondonPhilosophically interesting films particularly amenable to feminist readings
Film and existentialism
By Dr David Sorfa, University of EdinburghFilms that explore the existential dilemmas of freedom, authenticity, bad faith, anxiety, depression, suicide, racism, colonialism and oppression
Theology and film
By Dr Stuart Jesson, York St John UniversityA selection of films that offer the theologian food for thought of one kind or another.