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Professor Kristyn Gorton

Professor Kristyn Gorton

  • Position: Professor of Film and Television
  • Areas of expertise: feminist media studies, emotion and affect, British television history, discourses on care in contemporary culture, melodrama
  • Email: K.Gorton@leeds.ac.uk
  • Location: 1.01 Cavendish Road

Profile

I joined the University in August 2021, as a Professor of Film and Television and Head of School for Media and Communication. In May 2023, I took on the role of Deputy Dean for the Faculty of Arts, Humanities, and Cultures.

I have published extensively on film and television, particularly on feminist media studies, emotion and affect, British television history, melodrama, and discourses on care in contemporary culture.

My latest publication with Professor Beth Johnson, is titled Sally Wainwright, and was published by Manchester University Press, 2025.

Responsibilities

  • Deputy Dean, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures

Research interests

Selected publications

  • Gorton, K. and Johnson, B., Sally Wainwright, Manchester University Press, 2025.
  • Gorton, K. and Garde-Hansen, J., Remembering British Television: Audience, Archive, and Industry, British Film Institute/Bloomsbury, 2019.
  • Gorton, K. and Garde-Hansen, J., Emotion Online: Theorising Affect on the Internet, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
  • Gorton, K., Media Audiences: Television, Meaning and Emotion, Edinburgh University Press, 2009.
  • Gorton, K., Theorising Desire: From Freud to Feminism to Film, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
  • Gorton, K. and Helsby, M., ‘BBC North and Women: the case of Youth Programming,’ Critical Studies in Television, 2022.
  • Gorton, K., ‘Storytelling is Storytelling: Resilience, Gender and Screenwriting in Fair City,’ Journal of Popular Television, 2022.
  • Gorton, K., ‘Don’t let the Bastards Grind you Down: Feminist Resilience/Resilient Feminism in The Handmaid’s Tale,’ Critical Studies in Television, 2021.
  • Gorton, K., ‘On Writing Heroic Women: Sally Wainwright,’ Journal of British Cinema and Television, 2020, 399–414.
  • Gorton, K., ‘Enlightened Melodrama: Excess, Care and Resistance in Contemporary Television,’ Screen, 2019, 606–623.
  • Gorton, K., ‘Melodrama, Vicarious Pleasure & 1980s Feminist Television Criticism,’ Critical Studies in Television, 2017.
  • Gorton, K., ‘“Walking the Line Between Saint and Sinner:” Care and Nurse Jackie (Showtime, 2009–2015),’ Critical Studies in Television, 2016, 151–163.
  • Gorton, K. and Peirse, A., ‘“A Revolutionary Voice:” Analysing Maxine Peake’s Northern Stardom in Silk and Room at the Top, Journal of Popular Television, 2016, 213–224.
  • Gorton, K., ‘Feeling Northern: “Heroic” Women in Sally Wainwright’s Happy Valley (BBC One, 2014–), Journal for Cultural Research, 2016, 73–85.
  • Gorton, K., and Garde-Hansen, J., ‘From Old Media Whore to New Media Troll: the online negotiation of Madonna’s ageing body,’ Feminist Media Studies, 13 (2), 2013, 288–302.
  • Gorton, K., ‘A Way to Go: Lisa Holdsworth,’ Journal of British Cinema and Television, 10, 3, 2013, 664–671.

Student education

Current Postgraduate researchers

Danielle Reid

<h4>Postgraduate research opportunities</h4> <p>We welcome enquiries from motivated and qualified applicants from all around the world who are interested in PhD study. Our <a href="https://phd.leeds.ac.uk">research opportunities</a> allow you to search for projects and scholarships.</p>