Narratives of Institutional Racism and Social Critique in Contemporary UK Television Drama

This chapter explores the ways in which British television offers an opportunity for dialogue regarding critical pedagogy and critical race theory (CRT). The focus on critical pedagogy emerges from working within Higher Education and considering the changes and challenges to curriculum development. The focus of the chapter is on the ways in which CRT can be explored in terms of teaching television studies and the extent to which these fissures are explored and deconstructed via critical pedagogy. It also reflects upon the purpose of studying television as representative of popular culture and the role of public service broadcasting in establishing and circulating social discourse. According to Gale and Thomas, ‘Above all, CRT encourages analysts to take seriously the proposition that the recurrent failure of public institutions to respond to the needs of racialized minorities is a result of the deep fissures of entrenched racial power within society’ (2017, p. 473).