Mark studied for a degree in English Literature and Film Studies at the University of Southampton before moving on to his MA in Film Studies in the same department. Following this, he began work on his PhD, which looked at evolving attitudes towards (and expectations of) television in its formative years. This was successfully completed in early 2009.
Once he completed his PhD he began teaching at Solent full time after several years of part time teaching both here and at the University of Southampton. Mark specialises in television and film history, which is reflected in the units that he currently leads. He runs the level one core units ‘Issues in Television History’, ‘Issues in Film History’ and the introductory module ‘Studying the Moving Image’. He also teaches the options ‘British Television Genres’ and ‘Hollywood Musicals’ to level two and level three students, respectively.
He enjoys nothing more than watching any music video, film or television programming that takes his fancy at the end of the week, with the best candidates ranging from I, Claudius and 30 Rock to Clue and Kathy Griffin’s My Life on the D List .