Cultural Routledge Cultural Specificity in Transnational Television Drama / Paperback / 2026

This book examines two European television industries: those of Germany and Wales. It will be of particular interest to scholars and researchers in contemporary television landscape, literary and film studies, modern languages, philosophy and economics.

Cultural Specificity in Transnational Television Drama examines two European television industries: those of Germany and Wales.

This book analyses how near‑global shifts towards the fragmentation of audiences, the convergence of media and the transnationalisation of the television industries impact in culturally specific ways. It shows that these larger developments in the industries intersect with specific local histories and cultures, which influence how the changes are experienced and what kind of stories they lead to. Offering a comparative cultural analysis of these two industries and their output, and drawing on a variety of methods which include interviews, analysis of published interviews in the trade and other press, some archival research and textual analysis, this book shows that the global shifts in television impact in locally specific ways, which implies a continuation and indeed exaggeration of existing cultural differences at the same time as we see increasing collaboration, internationalisation and, as a result, also homogenisation between nations.

This book presents a unique emphasis on both transnationalising and localising tendencies, highlighting the need to maintain analytical focus on the nation in this supposedly post‑national world. It will be of particular interest to scholars and researchers in contemporary television landscape, literary and film studies, modern languages, philosophy and economics.