Introduction: By way of Hanif Kureishi and Stephen Frears
Wartime pageantry. The archers on pilgrimage ; Screen processions and village pageants ; The documentary pageant: Jennings's Listen to Britain
American gangsters, English crime films, and Dennis Potter. George Orwell versus James Hadley Chase ; Contending with America ; In search of an English crime film ; The singing detective as Summa criminologica
Two texts to screen. How to adapt Dickens, and how not to do it ; Ishiguro and Merchant-Ivory, Upstairs and downstairs
The strange potencies of music. Rawsthorne and Rachmaninoff ; Rolling out the barrel, looking up and laughing ; Distant voices, lip-synched lives
Conclusion: By way of Tony Harrison and Alan Bennett.