Cinema and Television History Group (CATH)

The Cinema and Television History Group (CATH) is a centre of excellence in archival screen heritage. It specialises in evidence-based methods and oral history approaches to inform ground-breaking interdisciplinary research and RCUK-funded international collaborations.

CATH is home to a growing number of unique collections including the Hammer Script Archive, the Cinema Museum’s Indian Cinemas Archive (at DMU), the Palace Pictures and Scala Productions papers and the Peter Whitehead Archive. Further archives, including the Sir Norman Wisdom collection and the Michael and Tony Klinger papers, are held in DMU's Special Collections: Collections about Cinema and Television. Members of CATH co-host the annual UK Asian Film Festival, the BFI British Silent Film Festival and we promote practice-based research via the The DocHub@DMU .

In REF2021 Screen Studies (CATH) submitted 11.65 FTE with an estimated GPA of 3.58 to DMU’s UoA 33, which was ranked 8^th nationally in research power and received the highest rating for research environment (50% 4* / 50% 3*).

Our Research

Cinema and Television History Group (CATH)

Adapting Jane Austen for Educational and Public Engagement

A twelve-month follow-on funding project, drawing on the papers of Andrew Davies (screenwriter) and Sue Birtwistle (producer) in DMU’s Special Collections. Working with the Educational Recording Agency and Jane Austen’s House, we will produce educational materials for schools and colleges and contribute to a public exhibition celebrating the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen in 2025. The project reunites the interdisciplinary team from DMU’s Centre for Adaptations, Cinema and Television History and Centre for Textual Studies that produced Transforming Middlemarch in 2023 – the first the digital genetic edition of a classic novel television adaptation.

News

Nostalgic Leicester film festival screens vintage lost TV episodes

Lost footage from a ‘golden era’ of British television was screened at a vintage film festival in Leicester on Sunday 11th May with help from De Montfort University (DMU) Leicester's Cinema and Television Historians.

18 June 2025

DMU researchers help world celebrate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth

Academics from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) are playing a major role in marking the 250th anniversary of the birth of beloved author Jane Austen in 2025. Thanks to an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) grant, English Literature and Adaptations experts from DMU, in association with the University of Nottingham, are contributing materials from DMU's Special Collections to a major exhibition in 2025 at Jane Austen’s House in Chawton, Hampshire, which attracts visitors from around the globe.

19 June 2025

Exhibition at London's Nehru Centre marks 50th anniversary of Indian epic Sholay

Sholay is one of India’s most iconic films, celebrated in this captivating exhibition marking its 50th anniversary at the Nehru Centre in May 2025. Curated by Dr. Monia Acciari—Associate Professor in Film and Television History and Director of the Indian Cinema Archive at De Montfort University—this exhibition offers a rare glimpse into the film’s enduring legacy and cultural resonance. Sholay, directed by Ramesh Sippy and released in 1975, revolutionised Indian cinema with its blend of action, drama, and unforgettable characters.

19 June 2025