Ben Keightley: The Representation of Women on Television episode artwork

EPISODE · Apr 3, 2026 · 15 MIN

Ben Keightley: The Representation of Women on Television

from The Roey Grad Podcast · host Roehampton Graduate School

Our guest this week make no apology for spending his study hours watching television – often Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives. Ben Keightley’s PhD subject is the representation of women during what’sknown as the second Golden Age of Television. He’s challenging the conventional view of that period, which is often characterised by series featuring male anti-heroes – think Breaking Bad – with evidence that ensemble series featuring women were just as important and innovative.    Links:  Joel R. Campbell. Television’s Second Golden Age: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/televisions-second-golden-age-9781666947120/  Mick B. Brewer. And Just Like That … misogyny reigns supreme: disciplining womanhood in the critical framings of Sex and the City’s new chapter https://www-tandfonline-com.roe.idm.oclc.org/doi/full/10.1080/15295036.2023.2249541#abstract  Bill Mesce Jr. Inside the Rise of HBO: A Personal History of the Company That Transformed Televisionhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Inside-Rise-HBO-Transformed-Television/dp/0786497866   Chapters  1.00 Television’s Golden Ages 2.40 Women in the third Golden Age 5.40 Advertisers’ influence and subscription models 9.10 Do you just watch TV all day? 10.15 Male anti-heroes 11.30 TV as an academic subject 12.34 Impact of the streaming services 14.00 Challenging norms vs simple representation       The Roey Grad Podcast is a presentation of the University of Roehampton’s Graduate School.  Our theme music is by DiamondTunes  Our hosts are two PhD students at Roehampton, Charles Miller and Will Berard, who also edits and mixes the podcast. It was produced by Aaliyah Hassan. Comments, questions, want to appear on the show? Get in touch at [email protected]   

Our guest this week make no apology for spending his study hours watching television – often Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives. Ben Keightley’s PhD subject is the representation of women during what’sknown as the second Golden Age of Television. He’s challenging the conventional view of that period, which is often characterised by series featuring male anti-heroes – think Breaking Bad – with evidence that ensemble series featuring women were just as important and innovative.    Links:  Joel R. Campbell. Television’s Second Golden Age: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/televisions-second-golden-age-9781666947120/  Mick B. Brewer. And Just Like That … misogyny reigns supreme: disciplining womanhood in the critical framings of Sex and the City’s new chapter https://www-tandfonline-com.roe.idm.oclc.org/doi/full/10.1080/15295036.2023.2249541#abstract  Bill Mesce Jr. Inside the Rise of HBO: A Personal History of the Company That Transformed Televisionhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Inside-Rise-HBO-Transformed-Television/dp/0786497866   Chapters  1.00 Television’s Golden Ages 2.40 Women in the third Golden Age 5.40 Advertisers’ influence and subscription models 9.10 Do you just watch TV all day? 10.15 Male anti-heroes 11.30 TV as an academic subject 12.34 Impact of the streaming services 14.00 Challenging norms vs simple representation       The Roey Grad Podcast is a presentation of the University of Roehampton’s Graduate School.  Our theme music is by DiamondTunes  Our hosts are two PhD students at Roehampton, Charles Miller and Will Berard, who also edits and mixes the podcast. It was produced by Aaliyah Hassan. Comments, questions, want to appear on the show? Get in touch at [email protected]

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Our guest this week make no apology for spending his study hours watching television – often Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives. Ben Keightley’s PhD subject is the representation of women during what’sknown as the second Golden Age of...

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