Hoggart and Who
The interrelationship between Doctor Who and cultural studies grows more complex and tangly, with the news that Richard Hoggart, founder of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, is being played, in a dramatisation of the Lady Chatterly’s Lover obscenity trial, by a certain side-burned actor:
Dad is played by the wonderful David Tennant (Blackpool, Casanova) who has carefully prepared his appearance by watching old interviews, even studying newspaper pictures of the time and having a picture of Dad on his mobile phone. He’s extremely convincing – the suit, the hair, the Yorkshire accent, and trickiest of all, the speech rhythms. The only thing wrong is his sideburns. To do this film he had to take 24 hours off from making Doctor Who in Cardiff and, as he explained, the sideburns wouldn’t grow back in a day.
There, I thought, was a kind of fame – to have researchers and costume directors pore over every detail of your appearance, then be seen in the witness box wearing Doctor Who’s face furniture.
Your Comments
John Gunders writes:
There’s more: The film is being premiered at a conference in Sheffield this weekend, called “The Uses of Richard Hoggert” (geddit?), and in attendance will be the cream of Australian and UK Cultural Studies academics.
Posted: 29 03 2006 - 08:00 | Permanent link to this comment
Nick Caldwell writes:
We’re through the looking-glass now, people.
Posted: 29 03 2006 - 08:36 | Permanent link to this comment
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