Film and media studies now attract large numbers of students in schools, colleges and universities. However the setting up of these courses came after many decades of pioneering work at the educational margins in the post-war period. Bolas’ account focuses particularly on the voluntary efforts of activists in the Society for Education in Film and Television and on that Society’s interchanging relationship with the British Film Institute’s Education Department, set up in the 1930s. It draws on recent interviews with many of the individuals who contributed to the raising of the status of film, TV and media study. Through detailed examination of the scattered but surviving documentary record, the author seeks to challenge versions of the received history.