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The Magic Box: Viewing Britain through the Rectangular Window
A riveting journey into the psyche of Britain through its golden age of television and film; a cross-genre feast of moving pictures, from classics to occult hidden gems, The Magic Box is the nation's visual self-portrait in technicolour detail.
Growing up in the 1970s, Rob Young's main storyteller was the wooden box with the glass window in the corner of the family living room, otherwise known as the TV set. Before the age of DVDs and Blu-ray discs, YouTube and commercial streaming services, watching television was a vastly different experience. You switched on, you sat back and you watched. There was no pause or fast-forward button.
The cross-genre feast of moving pictures produced in Britain between the late 1950s and late 1980s - from Quatermass and Tom Jones to The Wicker Man and Brideshead Revisited, from A Canterbury Tale and The Go-Between to Bagpuss and Children of the Stones, and from John Betjeman's travelogues to ghost stories at Christmas - contributed to a national conversation and collective memory. British-made sci-fi, folk horror, period drama and televisual grand tours played out tensions between the past and the present, dramatised the fractures and injustices in society and acted as a portal for magical and ghostly visions.
In The Magic Box, Rob Young takes us on a fascinating journey into this influential golden age of screen and discovers what it reveals about the nature and character of Britain, its uncategorisable people and buried histories - and how its presence can still be felt on screen in the twenty-first century.
Growing up in the 1970s, Rob Young's main storyteller was the wooden box with the glass window in the corner of the family living room, otherwise known as the TV set. Before the age of DVDs and Blu-ray discs, YouTube and commercial streaming services, watching television was a vastly different experience. You switched on, you sat back and you watched. There was no pause or fast-forward button.
The cross-genre feast of moving pictures produced in Britain between the late 1950s and late 1980s - from Quatermass and Tom Jones to The Wicker Man and Brideshead Revisited, from A Canterbury Tale and The Go-Between to Bagpuss and Children of the Stones, and from John Betjeman's travelogues to ghost stories at Christmas - contributed to a national conversation and collective memory. British-made sci-fi, folk horror, period drama and televisual grand tours played out tensions between the past and the present, dramatised the fractures and injustices in society and acted as a portal for magical and ghostly visions.
In The Magic Box, Rob Young takes us on a fascinating journey into this influential golden age of screen and discovers what it reveals about the nature and character of Britain, its uncategorisable people and buried histories - and how its presence can still be felt on screen in the twenty-first century.
516 pages, Paperback
First published August 3, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
September 28, 2021
My primary motivation for reading The Magic Box: Viewing Britain through the Rectangular Window (2021) was a result of how much I enjoyed Rob Young's wonderful Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music (2010), a book about the meandering progress of British folk music throughout the 20th century.
Rob Young's gift is to provide fascinating connections, context and insights about whatever he writes about. In this book he takes the reader on a tour of British television and films from the 1950s onwards.
If you lived through any of this era, and you regularly watched television, then you will probably have heard of, or even recall the likes of Bagpuss, Children of the Stones, Quatermass, Tom Jones, The Wicker Man, Brideshead Revisited, A Canterbury Tale, The Go-Between, and so on. Rob Young lifts the lid on how sci-fi, folk horror, public information films, period dramas and Xmas Ghost Stories reflected tensions between the past and the present, and illuminated the fractures and injustices within British society.
One name that recurs through is Nigel Kneale (no, me neither). A visionary and towering presence who was responsible for Quatermass and numerous other dystopian dramas. Sadly many of these were wiped or are now lost. The campaign for a blue plaque should now start in earnest.
Everything Rob Young describes in this book sounds intriguing and interesting. I am now keen to get my mitts on DVDs of Robin Redbreast (a folk horror Play for Today), Bagpuss (children’s classic), Tarry-Dan Tarry-Dan Scarey Old Spooky Man, Winstantley, Gallivant, amongst many others. I already have Penda's Fen and Children of the Stones in my collection - both excellent by the way. A lot of what exists can be found on YouTube so be prepared to dive down many a fascinating rabbit hole.
The Magic Box: Viewing Britain through the Rectangular Window is an absorbing dive into Britain’s collective psyche during its golden age of television and film.
4/5
Rob Young's gift is to provide fascinating connections, context and insights about whatever he writes about. In this book he takes the reader on a tour of British television and films from the 1950s onwards.
If you lived through any of this era, and you regularly watched television, then you will probably have heard of, or even recall the likes of Bagpuss, Children of the Stones, Quatermass, Tom Jones, The Wicker Man, Brideshead Revisited, A Canterbury Tale, The Go-Between, and so on. Rob Young lifts the lid on how sci-fi, folk horror, public information films, period dramas and Xmas Ghost Stories reflected tensions between the past and the present, and illuminated the fractures and injustices within British society.
One name that recurs through is Nigel Kneale (no, me neither). A visionary and towering presence who was responsible for Quatermass and numerous other dystopian dramas. Sadly many of these were wiped or are now lost. The campaign for a blue plaque should now start in earnest.
Everything Rob Young describes in this book sounds intriguing and interesting. I am now keen to get my mitts on DVDs of Robin Redbreast (a folk horror Play for Today), Bagpuss (children’s classic), Tarry-Dan Tarry-Dan Scarey Old Spooky Man, Winstantley, Gallivant, amongst many others. I already have Penda's Fen and Children of the Stones in my collection - both excellent by the way. A lot of what exists can be found on YouTube so be prepared to dive down many a fascinating rabbit hole.
The Magic Box: Viewing Britain through the Rectangular Window is an absorbing dive into Britain’s collective psyche during its golden age of television and film.
4/5
August 20, 2021
I now want to watch pretty much every film or TV prog discussed in this book, which must be a recommendation. If you grew up watching British TV during the author's formative years (70s-80s) and have any feeling for the fantastical, folkloric or other cultural margins, you're in for a treat.
December 26, 2021
Wonderful. An idiosyncratic history of British television and film with a focus on the weird. The author describes his focus as 'telemetric folklore' and that's exactly what we get. The thematically arranged chapters really help make sense of the varied curiosities discussed.
February 10, 2022
Rob Young’s Electric Eden was a meandering (in the best sense of the word) and comprehensive survey of the ‘visionary music’ of Britain; a book that delighted in its own freedom to wander and to explore the unexpected lanes and byways of Britain’s various folk revivals. The Magic Box does something very similar for television and film. Focusing on the elemental, the haunted, the dystopian and the long roots of British (particularly English) identity, it is, like Electric Eden, compulsively readable in its mix of the familiar, the surprising and the revelatory. The only problem is - as other reviewers have observed - the reader comes away from the book with a lengthy mental list of films and television programmes to search out and watch. Youtube is home to some crackers (The Stone Tape stands out) but it looks like a BFI player subscription is on the horizon for the more arcane items.
October 17, 2021
To be honest I'm not sure what the overall thesis was, or even if it intended to present one. But for a child of the 70s/80s this is just a wonderful reminiscence of (mostly) the outer-edges of popular tv.
It taps into that nostalgia addiction in exactly the same way as those endless (and tbh pretty self-aware) "50 Best xxx" countdown progs do.
It taps into that nostalgia addiction in exactly the same way as those endless (and tbh pretty self-aware) "50 Best xxx" countdown progs do.
September 5, 2023
Rob Young was brilliant at uncovering Britain’s visionary music in 'Electric Eden', a definitive study of folk music in the UK that took the reader/listener far away from the mainstream. He is less successful in attempting to apply similar insights into the nation’s visual memory bank.
A more academic approach to television history would have reflected upon innovative works of writers and directors such as Allan Clarke, Alan Bennett, Dennis Potter, David Leland, Ken Loach and Mike Leigh. Rob Young charts a less linear and more idiosyncratic course . The original works of Nigel Kneale are rightly feted but that doesn’t mean these more established names should have been excluded.
Surprisingly, there is also no mention of many of the many cult TV series I remember from the 1960s and 1970s like The Prisoner , The Champions , Adam Adamant Lives!, Doomwatch , Gangsters and Jason King . Nor does Young mention any of the long running soap operas and largely ignores comedy shows.
I understand that any study of the period must be subjective but it seems to me that Young’s viewpoint on British culture implies that ghost stories and folk horror were the dominant genres. The political background is for the most part peripheral as the emphasis is on his own memories and the idiosyncrasies of the British character.
TV output from the 1950s to the present provides such a rich source of material that it’s a pity Young chose also to spread his net even wider to include cult movies. In my view, he should have stuck to the small screen. A cinematic history of Britain belongs to a separate study.
At his best, Young shows that the weirdness that influenced the alternative music scene was matched by eccentric TV programming of the era . This transported unsuspecting viewers into strange and, often, scary territories. Many of the shows referred to were one-offs that have only recently resurfaced in all their ghostly glory on You Tube and other online sites.
This book is valuable for shedding light on these obscure dramas and documentaries but too many of these half-forgotten titles are merely listed and described rather than contextualised. The best section is entitled Divided Kingdom because he covers race, class and gender. These issues are essential to any deeper understanding of British multi-faceted cultural history.
A more academic approach to television history would have reflected upon innovative works of writers and directors such as Allan Clarke, Alan Bennett, Dennis Potter, David Leland, Ken Loach and Mike Leigh. Rob Young charts a less linear and more idiosyncratic course . The original works of Nigel Kneale are rightly feted but that doesn’t mean these more established names should have been excluded.
Surprisingly, there is also no mention of many of the many cult TV series I remember from the 1960s and 1970s like The Prisoner , The Champions , Adam Adamant Lives!, Doomwatch , Gangsters and Jason King . Nor does Young mention any of the long running soap operas and largely ignores comedy shows.
I understand that any study of the period must be subjective but it seems to me that Young’s viewpoint on British culture implies that ghost stories and folk horror were the dominant genres. The political background is for the most part peripheral as the emphasis is on his own memories and the idiosyncrasies of the British character.
TV output from the 1950s to the present provides such a rich source of material that it’s a pity Young chose also to spread his net even wider to include cult movies. In my view, he should have stuck to the small screen. A cinematic history of Britain belongs to a separate study.
At his best, Young shows that the weirdness that influenced the alternative music scene was matched by eccentric TV programming of the era . This transported unsuspecting viewers into strange and, often, scary territories. Many of the shows referred to were one-offs that have only recently resurfaced in all their ghostly glory on You Tube and other online sites.
This book is valuable for shedding light on these obscure dramas and documentaries but too many of these half-forgotten titles are merely listed and described rather than contextualised. The best section is entitled Divided Kingdom because he covers race, class and gender. These issues are essential to any deeper understanding of British multi-faceted cultural history.
January 16, 2025
The author's ELECTRIC EDEN is one of my favorite books on popular music and this one fills a similar niche in books about television. Not merely a history of the TV programs and movies made in England during Young's formative years and beyond, but an attempt to trace the essential Britishness of the era's popular entertainment. I enjoyed every page and am slowly using the text as a guide for the numerous films and shows I haven't already seen, or that will be better appreciated in the contexts provided by this book. Many of the TV shows are available in the vast wilderness of YouTube, so it's already proved to be a worthwhile quest.
I found myself wondering what a similar book about American media and its relationship to the American national character would look like, and I'm afraid we wouldn't come off well by comparison. Where Young finds in Britain characteristics like rural romanticism, self-reliance, an embrace of the mystical, and an appreciation for historical scope, it seems likely that an analysis of American culture would conclude that our popular entertainment indicates we believe every problem can be settled with a firearm, that cutthroat self-determination is the highest virtue, and that our concept of "equality" is distressingly fluid.
I found myself wondering what a similar book about American media and its relationship to the American national character would look like, and I'm afraid we wouldn't come off well by comparison. Where Young finds in Britain characteristics like rural romanticism, self-reliance, an embrace of the mystical, and an appreciation for historical scope, it seems likely that an analysis of American culture would conclude that our popular entertainment indicates we believe every problem can be settled with a firearm, that cutthroat self-determination is the highest virtue, and that our concept of "equality" is distressingly fluid.
September 12, 2022
I didn't enjoy this book as much as I expected, it was quite a dry read. Much of the narrative comprised plot descriptions of the selected examples of TV a programmes and films and the promised analysis of the British psyche was limited. (I found the inclusion of films problematic although many have been shown of the "Magic Box" of TV so difficult to exclude perhaps).
Rob Young's selection was heavy with history, horror, sci fi and fantasy and I guess that there are many paths that could be navigated from the "early days" of TV to the present. Each path may lead to a different set of conclusions. There are some notable exclusions: detective series, American buy-ins, sit-coms, and variety to name but a few. I'd expect that these may have as much to say about the audience as Hammer Horror or Quatermass. So, I'd suggest that the analysis says more about the people who made the films / programmes than those who watched.
There were a few highlights, especially the programmes watched and perhaps forgotten. Rob Young's knowledge and research is thorough in the subjects he chooses to include.
Rob Young's selection was heavy with history, horror, sci fi and fantasy and I guess that there are many paths that could be navigated from the "early days" of TV to the present. Each path may lead to a different set of conclusions. There are some notable exclusions: detective series, American buy-ins, sit-coms, and variety to name but a few. I'd expect that these may have as much to say about the audience as Hammer Horror or Quatermass. So, I'd suggest that the analysis says more about the people who made the films / programmes than those who watched.
There were a few highlights, especially the programmes watched and perhaps forgotten. Rob Young's knowledge and research is thorough in the subjects he chooses to include.
February 20, 2023
It's a testament to how interesting this book is that I stuck with it even though I had heard of only a couple of the movies and TV shows Rob Young talks about. Some of them I was familiar with only because I had read the books on which they were based.
But the book is as much about England in that period after World War II and the early days of Thatcherism, and Young discusses the screen as a medium for changes in attitudes, culture, politics and industrialization. You don't need to have seen the TV shows and movies he discusses because he does an excellent job of both summing them up -- don't read this book if you hate spoilers -- and explaining how they fit into the broader topic of ... Englishness, for a better word.
I'd love to see a newer edition that examines later films and TV, perhaps from Thatcherism to the new millennium; material that is of my time instead of before it. And I suspect Young would do an excellent job of analyzing British comedy, such a diverse genre with a lengthy history all of its own.
But the book is as much about England in that period after World War II and the early days of Thatcherism, and Young discusses the screen as a medium for changes in attitudes, culture, politics and industrialization. You don't need to have seen the TV shows and movies he discusses because he does an excellent job of both summing them up -- don't read this book if you hate spoilers -- and explaining how they fit into the broader topic of ... Englishness, for a better word.
I'd love to see a newer edition that examines later films and TV, perhaps from Thatcherism to the new millennium; material that is of my time instead of before it. And I suspect Young would do an excellent job of analyzing British comedy, such a diverse genre with a lengthy history all of its own.
January 15, 2024
The Magic Box**** A great read. A cultual wander through a history of television watching within Young's life (with repeats so stretches back a bit ) and how pre Netflix this medium provided to an extent a shared experience with the UK. The book primarily focuses on the weird, dystopian, horror, magical, odd kids TV, costume dramas, War films, ghost stories, Play for Today etc. It is long, the first and final third property spoke to me more and it of course acts a big watchlist! A lot saved on YouPube and a DVD or two in the post. As some have mentioned it can be a little dry in places where he sets out the story of entire films when a rough overview would do at times. I liked the bit that appeared throughout where he gives a window into his life growing up and and what it was like to encounter these films/dramas and subsequent chats at school etc. These bits ground the longer and occasional academic-y examinations of some films
February 4, 2025
An exploration of the golden age of British TV and film when the paucity of channels meant that people had to watch BBC or ITV, or go and see a British film, which meant idiosyncratic, author-led, intelligent and downright odd TV programmes and films were made. Because they were essentially cheap, lots could be made, and many of them explored the folklore and folk horror of the time. It was a golden age of cheaply made, intelligent programming.
Rob Young is a couple of years younger than me, but quite clearly watched way more telly (and British movies) than me growing up. I can see I wasted my youth reading books.
Nonetheless, this is a beautifully-written book: he has a way with a telling, and often unexpected, adverb or adjective, that really makes one want to go on Britbox and watch Quatermass, Sapphire and Steel, Penda's Fen, Threads, Kes, Britannia Hospital and other great programmes I'd never heard of.
Rob Young is a couple of years younger than me, but quite clearly watched way more telly (and British movies) than me growing up. I can see I wasted my youth reading books.
Nonetheless, this is a beautifully-written book: he has a way with a telling, and often unexpected, adverb or adjective, that really makes one want to go on Britbox and watch Quatermass, Sapphire and Steel, Penda's Fen, Threads, Kes, Britannia Hospital and other great programmes I'd never heard of.
November 11, 2021
A remarkable history of post-war British culture through the lens of film and television, this study combines personal narrative with cultural history to great effect. Besides featuring the most cogent analysis of the three distinct strands of "folk horror" represented by the "unholy trinity" of Witchfinder/Satan's Claw/Wicker Man, it offers rich and insightful discussions of everything from Dr. Who to the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony. Not quite as rich and well-researched as his book on English folk revival, this is nevertheless a worthy successor.
November 28, 2022
An interesting and surprising read, this book never quite falls into the trap of turning into a viewing list although it does teeter in that direction at times. Instead, Young draws together strands from British film and television from the 1940s to the 21st century and asks what they tell us about our national psyche. Some of his points of reference are mainstream and some aren’t, but you would have to be exceptionally prescient to have seen them all and I think everybody will come away from this with a handful of things on their list to see.
February 4, 2024
When you watch Gary Sherman's gruesome but poignant horror film Death Line do you find yourself thinking, "Why, these cannibals stand for all the forgotten labourers who died while building Britain's imperial power"? Or, when you watch Sapphire and Steel, one of the few television shows to equal the best writers of weird fiction in creating a mood of supernatural fear, do you find yourself distracted by the thought, "Why, this whole thing is a metaphor for the era of Thatcherism"? If you answered "yes" to these questions, you will find this book enthralling.
December 21, 2022
Rob Young does it again. What he did for English folk music in Electric Eden he has done for English television and film from the post war period up to The Detectorists. A forensic and detailed examination that is utterly gripping and a joy to read. If, like me you are of a certain age and we're lucky enough to sit through these programmes on first transmission, then you will really enjoy the author's careful and loving attention to detail.
March 30, 2022
Its difficult to desrcibe exactly how I feel about this book. Rob Young covers a wide range of TV series and films I've either never heard of or only vaguely remember which tweaked my interest so I have a little queue of these lined up on Youtube. Every bit as good as the classic Electric Eden. - Now if anyone can find the full version of Penda's Fen and Ghostwatch, please let me know.
August 10, 2023
A secret history of British television. Young weaves a number of threads to produce a convincing argument that Britain (mainly England) is a country at war itself and which has always been.
I'm off to watch Penda's Fen.
I'm off to watch Penda's Fen.
September 17, 2024
If you love nostalgic Telly there’s so many memories here from the Test Card to Doctor Who via Play for Today.
There are things I wish I’d seen as well like the 1960s version of 1984.
It’s a great view of when we had far less Telly choice than we have these days.
Really enjoyable reading.
There are things I wish I’d seen as well like the 1960s version of 1984.
It’s a great view of when we had far less Telly choice than we have these days.
Really enjoyable reading.
August 26, 2021
Perfect especially for someone my age
December 29, 2021
An excellent semi-companion to Mr Young's excellent "Electric Eden", highly recommended
May 30, 2023
Really interesting and thorough history of 'weird' British tv and film. A bit dry at times but well worthy of 4 stars. I now have a long list of further reading/watching!
August 25, 2024
An excellent overview of Britain, its land and people, folklore and mythology, as seen through the TV. A worthy follow-up to Rob's previous book, Electric Eden.
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