Armchair Cinema: A History of Feature Films on British Television, 1929-1981

Since broadcast television first emerged as a serious alternative to the cinema, more people have seen films on TV than by any other means. Feature films originally made for the big screen were initially withheld from TV by the film industry in the competition for audiences. Struggles between film and television interests settled into a truce in the mid—1960s, since when thousands of films have been shown on British terrestrial television each year. They assumed particular importance in the...