Module manager: Sarah Lahm
Email: S.Lahm@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable
Year running 2026/27
This module is not approved as a discovery module
This module offers an advanced exploration of television narrative, combining critical inquiry with practical creative development. Students interrogate the nature of narrative, and examine how storytelling is shaped by the specific affordances and constraints of the television medium and how scholars have theorised these forms within television studies. They extend these discussions through close analysis of selected television texts and key academic debates, fostering an applied understanding of narrative strategies, structures, and conventions. Please note this is an optional module and runs subject to enrolments. If a low number of students choose this module, then the module may not run and you may be asked to choose another module.
This module develops a critical and practical understanding of television narrative. Through a series of lectures, the module questions what is narrative? How is narrative constructed for the medium of television? How is this approach distinctive from other mediums? How has television narrative been theorised within academia? Through a series of seminars, students will consider these questions and critical approaches by analysing set television texts and academic writing. They will then put these principles into practice by workshopping their own television story ideas.
On successful completion of the module students will be able to:
1. Analyse and evaluatekey organising structures, conventions, and industrial practices that shape television narrative.
2. Interpret television texts using relevant theoretical and critical models.
3. Produce work that meets recognised standards of clarity, accuracy, and presentation within the study and practice of television narrative.
On successful completion of the module students will be able to:
4. Use industry-standard screenwriting software accurately and professionally to format, edit, and present television script work.
5. Apply analytical and creative skills—including close reading and narrative planning and reflective commentary, in the production of a creative or critical output.
How to use screenwriting software (for example, Final Draft, CeltX)
This module develops a critical and practical understanding of television narrative. Through a series of ten one hour lectures, the module poses the following questions:
1) What is narrative?
2) How is narrative constructed for the medium of television?
3) How is this approach distinctive from other mediums?
4) How has television narrative been theorised within academia?
Through a series of ten one hour lectures, seminars and screenings, students will consider these questions and critical approaches by analysing set television texts and academic writing
Lectures include discussions of character, context, platforms, plot, structure and genre. Weekly seminars discuss the points arising from the lecture and the set reading and viewing. Each week, students undertake critical and creative activities, ensuring they are fully prepared for whichever assessment they choose to take.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Film Screenings | 10 | 3 | 30 |
| Lecture | 11 | 1 | 11 |
| Seminar | 11 | 1 | 11 |
| Private study hours | 148 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 52 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
Students will receive weekly oral feedback from the module leader and/or seminar tutor on their understanding of the weekly readings and screenings. This will feed into the portfolio summative assessment. Students will also have an opportunity in seminars to pitch their screenplay ideas, or ideas for their essays to their peers and the module leader and/or seminar tutor to receive formative feedback that can feed into their essay or script summative assessment.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Portfolio | portfolio | 60 |
| Written Work | Assignment | 40 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
Check the module area in Minerva for your reading list
Last updated: 30/04/2026
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team