No Other Way to Tell It Docudrama on Film and Television

This second edition of No other Way To Tell It defines the docudrama, analyses its codes and conventions, and reviews contrasting histories in American and British practice – taking into account new developments since the first edition.

These include television’s radically new ecology, with factual formats a growth area. Docudrama in film has also burgeoned recently, partly because the industries themselves have grown closer and partly because of continued interest in the lives of the famous and of those in the news. International co-production now exploits many different screening opportunities and possibilities, with the result that docudrama has become a cinematic as well as televisual staple. Docudrama is not only popular with audiences; it also causes constant flurries of commentary and controversy. Concerns about ‘borders’ and ‘boundaries’, a questioning of documentary’s claim to represent the real, doubts about the popular audience’s ability to cope with new approaches to the ideas of witness, testimony and confession, authenticity and truth – all fuel the debate.

This new edition situates docudrama and its ongoing debates within a newly vibrant and still highly contentious field of practice. This book will interest readers - academic and general - with an interest in fact-based drama in film, theatre and television.

This second edition of No other Way To Tell It defines the form, analyses its codes and conventions, and reviews contrasting histories in America and British practice - taking into account new developments since the first edition.

These include television’s radically new ecology; with factual formats a growth area. Docudrama in film has also burgeoned recently, partly because the industries themselves have grown closer and partly because of continued interest in the lives of the famous and of those in the news. International co-production now exploits many different screening opportunities and possibilities, with the result that docudrama and become a cinematic as well as televisual staple. Docudrama is not only popular with audiences; it also causes constant flurries of commentary and controversy. Concerns about ‘borders’ and ‘boundaries’, a questioning of documentary’s claim to represent the real, doubts about the popular audience’s ability to cope with new approaches to the ideas of witness, testimony and confession, authenticity and truth - all fuel the debate.

This new edition situates docudrama and its ongoing debates within a newly vibrant and still highly contentious field of practice. This book will interest readers - academic and general - with an interest in fact-based drama in film, theatre and television