Ambiguous Ambitions: The Social, Cultural and Visual Legacies of Granada Television

Taube, Isabel (2025) Ambiguous Ambitions: The Social, Cultural and Visual Legacies of Granada Television. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

This doctoral thesis focuses on the visual, social and cultural legacies of the Granada Television Company, which quickly gained traction after it emerged in 1956, for its innovative programming and strong identification with the North of England. The work draws upon a range of archival material, as well as new oral history interviews, to map how Granada became known as the most radical and socially conscious of the commercial television companies established in Post-war Britain. Covering a period from the 1950s to 1990s, it attends to the significant legacies of the company’s regional and cultural identity but complicates its reputation for ‘difference’ by historicising Granada through underexplored themes including gender, ‘race’, via its relationship to the visual arts in Britain, and via its representation of young people in its earliest years. The work also reflects on the more ambiguous ways the company was experienced by former employees, and by doing so, broadens an understanding of Granada’s history, especially its legacies as a cultural powerhouse.