Dr Peter James Atkinson

Dr Atkinson’s research examines particularly the role played by broadcasting, television broadcasting especially, in the creation of popular mythologies of northern England. In his PhD thesis, and early published academic work he noted that the modern myth of Liverpool, from 1963 was communicated largely through broadcasting, the process preceding the popular rise of The Beatles and extending back to scouse comedians including Tommy Handley and his important role in the wartime radio favourite It’s That Man Again (ITMA).

Peter has noted that the accommodation of regional playwrights such as Liverpudlian Alun Owen by the newly licensed Independent Television (ITV) in the second half of the 1950s also served to broadcast influential representations of Liverpool, as did a short series of story documentaries set in the city and, later, BBC’s ground-breaking realist TV series Z Cars. Meanwhile he also notes the centrality of BBC Radio in bringing a wide range of The Beatles’ music to public attention in 1963, through their live broadcast appearances, and also in communicating their ‘scouse’ character, largely through a comic contrast between their cheeky Liverpudlian patter, and the middle class voices of their host BBC presenters. Peter has provided a similarly in-depth analysis of the Manchester mythology attendant to the success of another northern English group of Irish descent, The Smiths in published work. Here he notes continuities between their work and the left wing politics apparent in productions by 1930s BBC Radio Manchester, and involving contributors Ewan MacColl and Joan Littlewood.

He also notes the influence of Manchester / Salford writers such as Walter Greenwood and Shelagh Delaney on the group's Manchester aesthetic. Peter’s work on The Smiths led him to consider more carefully the geography and cultural geography of central Manchester and, recently he has published two pieces of work on this topic. Here he notes the centrality of Granada TV both aesthetically and literally as its influence and location (then on Quay Street) enabled the emergence of the ‘pop cult’ myth of the cities (Salford border was a stone’s throw from Granada). He has noted that this myth has driven regeneration and how the cities now divide into particular ‘cultural quarters’ amidst extensive building, the product of foreign investment, and the gentrification of selected areas. Peter has also started a similar investigation of Hull, his starting point again being pop music where he has noted the understated influence of David Bowie’s backing band, The Spiders from Mars, who were all from Hull, in his 1972 project Ziggy Stardust. Presently Peter is investigating the substantial influence of the screen industry in northern England as the portfolio of film and television drama produced in the region grows.