WRITING FOR TELEVISION. By Arthur Swinson. (Black, 16s.) WRITING FOR
TELEVISION. By Sir Basil Bartlett. (Allen and Unwin, 9s. 6d.)
Ir must be unusual for two books with iden- tical titles to appear on the same publication date. In this case there need have been no confusion; Sir Basil Bartlett's book is mis- titled. It opens with the pronouncement that 'Basically, television is a by-product of the Theatre'—at first sight a ludicrous misconcep- tion, calculated to dispatch his book straight- way to the dustbin. But it turns out that he is not writing about TV in general; he is con- cerned only with TV plays. Why this is not stated in the title is obscure; plays, after all, represent only a small fraction of the TV writer's field. Mr. Swinson's book is of much more general interest. He deals not only with plays, but with features, talks and documen- taries; most of what he has to say is helpful. .
IVOR BRIEN
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