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John Ellis

@profjohnellis.bsky.social

420 followers 340 following 42 posts

TV and British film. Editor of View. Chair of Learning on Screen. Emeritus prof at Royal Holloway. Allotment holder and occasional birdwatcher. Once a TV producer at www.largedoorltd.com

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John Ellis is a British former TV producer and professor of media arts at Royal Holloway, University of London. Ellis studied English at the University of Cambridge 1970-3 and at the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at University of Birmingham 1973-6. From 1978 to 1982 he taught Film Studies at University of Kent at Canterbury. .. more

Computer science 21%

Biology 18%

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John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · Aug 2

Unexpected treat on UK’s @talkingpicturestv.bsky.social catch up service: Raoul Walsh’s 1930 western The Big Trail, a confident early sound movie shot in 70mm. A beautiful crisp b&w print for a change. A real revelation… and a young John Wayne too.

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Reposted by John Ellis

Talking Pictures TV @talkingpicturestv.bsky.social · Nov 22

The great #JamesRobertsonJustice is in the spotlight in the documentary series THOSE BRITISH FACES (1993) at 1:05pm #TPTVsubtitles

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Reposted by John Ellis

Talking Pictures TV @talkingpicturestv.bsky.social · Dec 18

🚨 A Fabulous #TPTV Weekend celebrating a Screen Legend!
The event you won't want to miss!

⭐ PETER CUSHING - WEEKEND IN WHITSTABLE Sat 24 & Sun 25 May 2025. Tickets are extremely limited! For full details & booking for this exclusive event, click here! https://buff.ly/3P4bsK6

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Reposted by John Ellis

Talking Pictures TV @talkingpicturestv.bsky.social · Dec 5

Coming this December! Premiere Saturday 21st December, 9:05pm #BurtLancaster #RichardWidmark #JosephCotton TWILIGHT'S LAST GLEAMING (1977) thriller on #TPTV

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John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · Jul 16

Trailers were made exclusively for cinema in the 1950s. In U.K. anyway there was no commercial TV until 1955. Trailers also had to be submitted to the BBFC film censors for certification

John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · Jul 3

Unexpected dinner guest in our London back garden this evening… but at least they brought their own food #birds

John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · May 3

Amazed to be one of the 99 asked to comment on David Attenborough’s 99th birthday. There’s simply no one else like him! www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

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Reposted by John Ellis, Federico Ortino, Deborah Shaw

Chris Williams @chrisw100.bsky.social · May 2

Another record year for the Green Party 👏
859 Councillors on 170 Councils in England & Wales

Now join us to keep Greens growing and to take the fight to Reform join.greenparty.org.uk

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John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · Apr 21

A sinister pattern is emerging. Liz Truss meets Queen Elizabeth. Soon after, she dies. JD Vance meets Pope Francis, the very next day, he dies. World leaders clearly should avoid extreme right wingnuts.

John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · Apr 3

Send the companies a letter of complaint. Authors Guild has a template actionnetwork.org/letters/auth...

Tell AI Companies They Do Not Have the Right to Use Your Work

I just sent a letter telling AI companies they do not not have the right to use my work. Use the Authors Guild's letter template to send your own.

actionnetwork.org

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John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · Apr 3

Thanks to @theatlantic.com I know that all my 6 books, including some translations (but only a random 4 of my academic articles) have been used to train AI. If you, like me, object to this, then sign the UK petition chng.it/WpMt8sDztF

Sign the Petition

Protect authors’ livelihoods from the unlicensed use of their work in AI training

chng.it

John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · Mar 8

In 1720 the nuns of the Convent of St Paul in Tavira Portugal commissioned an altarpiece showing the Last Judgement. Their choice for eternal damnation: priests, a bishop, a bureaucrat and a king…#womensart

John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · Feb 2

How can audiovisual archives respond to the new forms of content discovery that have developed from googling and streaming? VIEW’s new edition explores through interviews with archivists, fresh research and reconceptualisation. viewjournal.eu/30/volume/13...

John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · Jan 25

Glad we bought a BW iD3 and not a Tesla a couple of months ago. Thought Teslas might get vandalised (or directed to do weird stuff by Musk) if he got any worse… and he certainly has!

John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · Jan 8

Trump wants Panama back? Any day now Putin will reclaim Alaska, sold by Russia’s czar at a knockdown price after the Crimean war. No doubt China’s Xi has told him that was an “unfair” deal, like when China had to sell Hong Kong. We know how that ended. @jonathanfreedland.bsky.social

Trump refuses to rule out using military to take Panama Canal and Greenland

Remarks likely to set off alarm bells around the world as Trump prepares to return to the White House this month

www.theguardian.com

John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · Dec 25

For some of our neighbours, Christmas seems to be over already. To everyone else, have a good one!

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John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · Dec 20

@illuminations.bsky.social Tomorrow, 9pm: an extraordinary use of split screen in Twilight’s Last Gleaming! Saw this on initial release at the Clapham Grand, and it’s been almost impossible to see since. How prescient will it seem almost 50 years later?

Talking Pictures TV @talkingpicturestv.bsky.social · Dec 5

Coming this December! Premiere Saturday 21st December, 9:05pm #BurtLancaster #RichardWidmark #JosephCotton TWILIGHT'S LAST GLEAMING (1977) thriller on #TPTV

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John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · Dec 18

@illuminations.bsky.social see you there?

Talking Pictures TV @talkingpicturestv.bsky.social · Dec 18

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Reposted by John Ellis

Neil Norman And His Cosmic Orchestra @fubsyshabaroon.bsky.social · Dec 17

Blimey. One for fans of Network Distributing.

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John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · Dec 16

@nilspratley.bsky.social Still waiting for your analysis of the incomprehensible statement from Ole Jacob Sunde on the sale of #Observer. Clearly a CEO trying to pull the wool over the eyes of stakeholders. Just the kind of thing you usually skewer so well!

John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · Dec 11

More context: there are more sustainable solutions that will be easier to deliver than relying on the bulk developers with their market-rigging tactics www.communityplanningalliance.org/uploads/1/3/...

www.communityplanningalliance.org

Reposted by John Ellis

Ros Coward @roscoward.bsky.social · Dec 11

www.communityplanningalliance.org/uploads/1/3/...

Important report from Community Planning Alliance. Shows govt building spree will not solve the real housing crisis & will destroy nature. What’s needed is a greenfield LAST approach

www.communityplanningalliance.org

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John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · Dec 3

ITV has never bothered with Christmas Day… there’s no ad revenue to be had from it

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Reposted by John Ellis

Talking Pictures TV @talkingpicturestv.bsky.social · Dec 2

Coming this December! Premiere Saturday 21st December, 9:05pm #BurtLancaster #RichardWidmark #JosephCotton TWILIGHT'S LAST GLEAMING (1977) thriller on #TPTV

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John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · Nov 25

How can journalists learn to deal with the datafication of their work? New issue of open source VIEW presents new research eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

The Datafication Challenge | VIEW Journal of European Television History and Culture

offers an international platform for outstanding academic research and archival reflection on television as an important part of our European cultural heritage. The journal is open to many disciplinar...

eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com

John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · Nov 24

Thanks… that’s because you know a huge amount about history!

John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · Nov 24

Hello from UK, part of Europe (more or less) where we also do media theory!

John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · Nov 22

A month to write the paper, but 8 months for peer review and another 3 until it’s posted

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John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · Nov 22

I produced this golden oldie!

Talking Pictures TV @talkingpicturestv.bsky.social · Nov 22

The great #JamesRobertsonJustice is in the spotlight in the documentary series THOSE BRITISH FACES (1993) at 1:05pm #TPTVsubtitles

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John Ellis @profjohnellis.bsky.social · Nov 21

Derek Jarman saw this as free radiotherapy