Emma Peel wearing her "kinky boots." Amanda King and her poppy seed cake. Julie Barnes at her hippie pad. Honey West with her pet ocelot. Television's female spies and crimefighters make quite an impression, yet there hasn't been a reference book devoted to them until now. This encyclopedic work covers 350 female spies, private investigators, amateur sleuths, police detectives, federal agents and crime-fighting superheroes who have appeared in more than 250 series since the 1950s, with an emphasis on lead or noteworthy characters. Entries are alphabetical by series, featuring credits and synopses, notable plot points, interesting facts and critical commentary on seminal series and characters. A brief history of female spies and crimefighters on TV places them in chronological perspective and sociological context.

Did you know that detective Adrian Mont (Monk) is afraid of milk? That Pinky's real first name on The Roaring '20s is Delaware? That on Charlie's Angels, Sabrina was the only Angel who was never seen in a bikini or swimsuit? These are only a few of the more than 9,800 facts readers will find in this work, which presents detailed information on 134 syndicated and cable series broadcast from 1948 to 2003, plus six experimental programs broadcast from 1937 to 1946 and 204 unsold pilots broadcast from 1948 to 1996, that featured the work of television's law enforcers who risk their lives to solve crimes and bring criminals to justice. The entries are arranged alphabetically and provide such details as character names, addresses, names of pets, telephone numbers, and license plate numbers--in short, anything and everything that adds interest to a program and its characters. Many of the entries contain information about related projects, including TV movies and pilots that were broadcast as part of a series (for example, Sharon Stone's appearance as detective Dani Starr on the "Hollywood Starr" episode of T.J. Hooker).

The female spy has long exerted a strong grip on the popular imagination. With reference to popular fiction, film and television Violent Femmes examines the figure of the female spy as a nexus of contradictory ideas about femininity, power, sexuality and national identity. Fictional representations of women as spies have recurrently traced the dynamic of women’s changing roles in British and American culture. Employing the central trope of women who work as spies, Rosie White examines cultural shifts during the twentieth century regarding the role of women in the professional workplace. Violent Femmes examines the female spy as a figure in popular discourse which simultaneously conforms to cultural stereotypes and raises questions about women's roles in British and American culture, in terms of gender, sexuality and national identity. Immensely useful for a wide range of courses such as film and television studies, English, cultural studies, women’s studies, gender studies, media studies, communications and history, this book will appeal to students from undergraduate level upwards.

Spyscreen is a genre study of English-language spy fiction film and television between the 1930s and 1960s. Taking as his focus many well-known films and television series, Toby Miller uses a wide range of critical approaches - from textual interpretation, audience studies, and culturalhistory, through auteurism, imperial history, class, and governmentality, to genre, cultural imperialism, and gender.Beginning with an overview of the social and political background to the history, production, and analysis of spy fiction, topics discussed include the first canonical espionage movie, The 39 Steps, key film noir texts such as Gilda and The Third Man, the figure of popular spies, including JamesBond, and the importance of women to the genre. The result is not just an insightful new study of key texts in this popular genre; it is an important intervention in the methodology and practice of Screen Studies.

Between Emma Peel and tire Ministry of Silly Walks British television had a significant impact on American popular culture in the 1960s and 1970s. In Something Completely Different, Jeffrey Miller offers the first comprehensive study of British programming on American television, discussing why the American networks imported such series as The Avengers and Monty Python's Flying Circus; how American audiences received these uniquely British shows; and how the shows' success reshaped American television. Miller's lively analysis covers three genres: spy shows, costume dramas, and sketch comedies. In addition to his close readings of the series themselves, Miller considers the networks' packaging of the programs for American viewers and the influences that led to their acceptance, including the American television industry's search for new advertising revenue and the creation of PBS.

"This is the first academic study of the science fiction television devised and written by Terry Nation, who wrote Dalek stories and other serials for Doctor Who, and created the BBC's 1970s post-apocalyptic space adventure series Blake's 7".--Back cover.

Current Perspectives in Social Theory presents essays on the major issues in contemporary theoretical work in sociology, providing both a critical overview of the development of major debates and original formulations by specialists working in various fields. Emphasis is put upon the presentation of new developments in special areas. Intended to cover the discipline as a whole, Current Perspectives in Social Theory seeks to maintain a balance between the general and the particular by dividing each volume into two parts, the first consisting of field statements by recognized academics in major areas of sociology, the second consisting of pieces focused on more detailed theoretical issues.

It's 35 years since Patrick McGoohan's thriller series The Prisoner, a strange blend of espionage, psychodrama and fantasy, first entranced the British public. Tracing the program's evolution from sixties' curiosity to worldwide cult, the book examines the volatile social and political background which shaped its development. With an episode-by-episode analysis, a wealth of previously unpublished photographs, production designs, props and memorabilia, production details, cast biographies and interviews with the cast and crew, The Prisoner: The Official Companion to the Classic TV Series is the ultimate guide to what is now viewed as one of the seminal television series of its time. It will be promoted on the dozens of rabid Prisoner websites.