Professor James Walters BA (Kent), MA, PhD (Warwick)

Photograph of James Walters

Department of Film and Creative Writing
Professor of Screen Aesthetics and Criticism

Contact details

Telephone
+44 (0)121 415 8333
Email
j.r.walters@bham.ac.uk
Address
ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

I research and teach film and television aesthetics. My work involves close reading and, particularly, I am interested in the relationship between this critical practice and questions of value and achievement.

Qualifications

BA, MA, PhD

Biography

I completed my PhD at Warwick University before spending a year as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Westminster. I joined the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø in 2007 and was Head of American and Canadian Studies before becoming Founding Head of Film and Creative Writing in 2014.

Teaching

At Birmingham, I have taught classes on film performance, Hollywood cinema, fantasy film, filmmaking practices, documentary, and television aesthetics. 

Postgraduate supervision

I welcome postgraduate applications in the areas of film and television, as well as potential co-supervisions across subjects and departments within the School of English, Drama and Creative Studies.

Find out more - our PhD Film Studies  page has information about doctoral research at the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø.

Research

My work is divided between film and television studies. I have written two monographs on aspects of screen fantasy, Alternative Worlds in Hollywood CinemaÌý²¹²Ô»åÌýFantasy Film, a BFI TV Classic on the series The Thick of It, and a recent monograph, Television and Repetition. I have co-edited the international collection Film Moments with Tom Brown and Television Performance with Lucy Fife Donaldson. My most recent book is Television and Repetition and I am currently completing the monograph Visions in the Frame: Mise en scene Between Film and TV.Ìý

Other activities

I have acted as external examiner for courses at King’s College London, University of Bedfordshire and Bath Spa University. I have delivered keynote addresses at University of Lisbon, King’s College London and University of St Andrews.

Publications

Recent publications

Book

Walters, J 2023, . 1st edn, Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

Fife Donaldson, L & Walters, J 2019, . Red Globe Press.

Article

Walters, J 2023, '', Critical Studies in Television, pp. 1-19.

Walters, J 2022, '', Movie: A Journal of Film Criticism, no. 10, pp. 74-83. <>

Walters, J 2020, '', Film Studies, vol. 21, pp. 97-112.

Walters, J 2020, '', Journal of Popular Television, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 349-367.

Walters, J 2019, '', Movie: A Journal of Film Criticism, no. 8, pp. 1-6. <>

Walters, J & Fife Donaldson, L 2018, '', Critical Studies in Television, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 352–369.

Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Walters, J 2025, . in D Shaw & R Stone (eds), Sex Education: School's Out for Netflix. 1st edn, Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 31-46.

Shaw, D, Stone, R & Walters, J 2025, . in D Shaw & R Stone (eds), Sex Education: School's Out for Netflix. 1 edn, Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 15–30.

Walters, J 2023, . in S Cardwell, J Bignell & L Fife Donaldson (eds), Epic / Everyday: Moments in Television. The Television Series, Manchester University Press, pp. 140-162.

Walters, J 2022, . in S Cardwell, J Bignell & L Fife Donaldson (eds), Complexity / Simplicity: Moments in Television. The Television Series, Manchester University Press, pp. 84-103.

Walters, J 2021, . in D Shaw & R Stone (eds), Sense8: Transcending Televison. 1st edn, Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 57-70.

Walters, J 2019, . in L Fife Donaldson & J Walters (eds), Television Performance. Red Globe Press, pp. 61-83.

Other contribution

Walters, J 2022, . Fantasy/Animation.org. <>