Dr Brett Mills

Senior Lecturer and writer for TV

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Brett Mills did joint honours degree with FRTV and English, and then did his PhD here, supervised by Ken Fox and Philip Simpson, a former head of department. He is now one of the leading academic writers on comedy in the UK, and it all began at Christ Church.

"I studied for my BA English and Radio, Film and Television Studies and then a PhD in Radio, Film and Television Studies at Canterbury Christ Church University. Since then I’ve been a lecturer in media studies at the University of Glamorgan, and I am currently a Senior Lecturer in Film and Television Studies at the University of East Anglia. I was Head of School from 2011 to 2013. I am the author of Television Sitcom (British Film institute, 2005) and The Sitcom (Edinburgh University Press, 2009) and co-author of Reading Media Theory: Thinkers, Approaches, Contexts (Pearson, 2009/12).

My interest in the study television comedy began at Canterbury Christ Church University, where I wrote my undergraduate dissertation on One Foot in the Grave. My current research project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and I am working with writers, producers, commissioners, and other personnel in the television comedy industry."