I joined the University of Birmingham in 2007. During that time, I have led the development of Film, Television and Screen Studies within the curriculum. I launched the MA in Film and Television: Reseach and Production in 2010 as well as several undergraduate programmes, beginning with BA English and FIlm in 2018 and including BA Film and Television in 2026. I have performed a wide range of leadership and management roles in both education and research at Birmingham and was Head of American and Canadian Studies before becoming Founding Head of Film and Creative Writing in 2014.

My research covers a range of topics related to aesthetics and criticism, and my work is concerned primarily with film and television. I have written two monographs on aspects of screen fantasy, Alternative Worlds in Hollywood Cinema and Fantasy Film (with an expanded second edition of Fantasy Film forthcoming). I've also written a BFI TV Classic on the series The Thick of It, and the monograph Television and Repetition. I have co-edited the international collections Film Moments with Tom Brown and Television Performance with Lucy Fife Donaldson. My most recent book is Visions in the Frame: Mise en scène Between Film and Television, and I'm currently editing the collection The Works of Russell T Davies.