This book deals with the role of television drama in Europe as enabler of transnational, cultural encounters for audiences and the creative community. Based on data on the production, distribution and reception of recent TV drama from several European countries, the book presents a new picture of the transnational European television culture.

1. Introduction: Transnational European TV Studies.- 2.  A Theory of Mediated Cultural Encounters.- 3.  The Perfect Storm: European Television Policy and the Emergence of Streaming Services.- 4. Networks and Patterns of European TV-drama Co-production.- 5.  Creative Work in a Transnational Context: Creative Encounters Behind the Scenes.- 6.  National Patterns of TV-drama Consumption in Europe.- 7.  Meeting the Others on TV: How Europeans View European TV-drama.- 8.  Facing Everyday Life and the Societies We Live In: Contemporary Drama.- 9.  The Darker Sides of Society: Crime Drama.- 10.   History, Heritage and Memory: Historical Drama.- 11.  Conclusion: European Television - Diversity with very little unity?.

This book deals with the role of television drama in Europe as enabler of transnational, cultural encounters for audiences and the creative community. It demonstrates that the diversity of national cultures is a challenge for European TV drama but also a potential richness and source of creative variation. Based on data on the production, distribution and reception of recent TV drama from several European countries, the book presents a new picture of the transnational European television culture. The authors analyse main tendencies in television policy and challenges for national broadcasters coming from new global streaming services. Comparing cases of historical, contemporary and crime drama from several countries, this study shows the importance of creative co-production and transnational mediated cultural encounters between national cultures of Europe.

“This is a timely and wide-reaching study on changing and developing relations in the production and consumption of drama from different European countries. The book offers new data for an international comparison of TV drama consumption, as well as detailed analyses of media policy and production cultures. A particular strength is the cumulation of much of this data into three concluding chapter which offer a comparative view onto the production and reception of contemporary, crime and historical drama respectively.” (Elke Weissmann, Reader in Television and Film, Edge Hill University, UK)

“This outstanding book offers an excellent contribution to the field of transnational TV drama series from an European perspective. It sheds light on the theoretical and practical dimensions of European co-productions. The authors give a distinguished insight into the social and cultural practices of the production and consumption of European TV Drama series.” (Lothar Mikos, Professor of Television Studies, Filmuniversität Babelsberg, Germany)

The first in depth and comparative analysis of the bigger picture of European television drama in a transnational context across several European countries Offers insights into the creative television industries in Europe, the forms of co-production and different national traditions Combines quantitative methods and data on the production, distribution and reception of European television drama with qualitative methods and analysis of television drama genres Provides new perspectives on mediated cultural encounters and the role of television drama for national and European culture Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras