The Serialised Documentary: Aesthetics, Authorship, Engagement

This project will examine the implications of serialisation for the documentary form across a range of sub-
genres and production contexts. It aims to develop a theoretical framework which accounts for the
aesthetic, narrative, and temporal strategies through which serialised documentaries engage their
viewers. It will build on the insights of documentary theorists and television scholars by closely analysing
a range of series. This project will question whether seriality operates in the same ways in documentary
as it does in fiction, and has the potential to intervene in wider debates within documentary theory,
specifically those pertaining to authorship, aesthetics, and discourses of quality and value. The
combination of a documentary approach with dramatic structuring devices raises questions around the
status of documentary on television. In the era of media convergence and fake news, the line between
information and entertainment has become increasingly blurred. Consequently, this project will address
whether the proliferation of serial documentary constitutes a move away from factuality, or a return to it
following the era of Reality TV and 'hybrid' documentary.