
Dr Michael Samuel
PhD, PGCE, MA, BA
Expertise
As a scholar, I am fascinated in exploring the intersections between digital visual media (film, television, video games and online video), technology, and culture.
Current positions
Senior Lecturer in Digital Film & Television
Department of Film and Television
Contact
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Biography
I am also co-director of the Bristol Digital Game Lab, positioned at the intersection of academia and the games industry.
I am open to collaboration and I am available for postgraduate supervision, accepting proposals in the following subject areas:
- Contemporary Television
- Video Games
- Streaming Platforms
- AI and Generative Media
- Digital Culture
Research interests
From the study of film and television to video games and online media, my interdisciplinary research explores how technology and culture intersect to shape the way we create, share, and experience stories, and fundamentally relate to one another.
Through my role as co-director of the Bristol Digital Game Lab, I have led a project since 2024 developing a game titled Spare Parts, which explores experiences of postnatal depression in new fathers and the potential for game-making to be used within therapeutic contexts. This practice-led research, produced in collaboration with Dr Richard Cole and Dr Danny Bacchus and developed in conversation with the third sector organisations, has lay the foundation for thinking about the capacity for games to impact paternal mental health research, with a view to instigating eventual policy change in the support of new fathers in the UK. As well as exploring how technology might help us better understand the complexities of paternal mental health, as co-director of the new MA Game Design (Narrative) programme, which is the first programme of its kind in the world, I feel emboldened to inspire and equip others with the skills to make their own games.
Furthermore, this interest has governed my research outputs and is consistent in my research and publications, reflected in my long-term interest in the role of television in facilitating one’s sense of national identity and heritage (Factual Heritage Television, monograph, Routledge, 2026); my collaborative project exploring television’s capacity to elicit empathy through its narrative, form and consumption (Television and Empathy, co-edited collection, Palgrave, 2025); and my internationally reaching dialogue exploring the complex geopolitical relationships playing out in the international streaming war (Streaming and Screen Culture in the Asia-Pacific, co-edited collection, Palgrave, 2022).
As well as leading innovative research, I have sustained a consistent profile in film and television studies. My monograph Northern Exposure A Cultural History (2021) and forthcoming co-authored book on the series Halt and Catch Fire (Intellect, 2027) are testament to this commitment to contribute to my discipline.
At the Department of Film and Television, I am the unit convener for Approaching Video Games, Film and Television Authorship, and Analysing Television, and I co-supervise PhD student Lexie Henning, whose project examines implicit classical reception within The Last of Us Games.
I am open to accepting applications from potential PhD candidates.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Paternal Postnatal Depression (PPND) Game Development
Principal Investigator
Description
We produced the prototype for a game that responds to the symptoms experienced by father living with PPND.Managing organisational unit
Department of Film and TelevisionDates
01/10/2024 to 31/12/2024
The Bristol Digital Game Lab
Role
Co-Principal Investigator
Description
The Bristol Digital Game Lab at the University of Bristol is a leader in the study and development of games for public good. Sited at the intersection of academia and…Managing organisational unit
Dates
01/08/2022 to 31/07/2030
Publications
Selected publications
16/10/2022Streaming and Screen Cultures in Asia-Pacific
Streaming and Screen Cultures in Asia-Pacific
Northern Exposure A Cultural History
Northern Exposure A Cultural History
True Detective Critical Essays on the HBO Series
True Detective Critical Essays on the HBO Series
Succession is as much about technology as it is about money, power and family
Recent publications
22/01/2025Nintendo Switch 2 and anticipated sequels – what to look forward to in gaming in 2025
Television and Empathy
Television and Empathy
Book Review: Moments in Television: Complexity/simplicity
Critical Studies in Television
Succession is as much about technology as it is about money, power and family
All the video games shortlisted for the 2023 Game Awards – reviewed by experts
Teaching
Analysing TV
Approaching Video Games
Topics in Film and TV History
