Funding
Find out more about financing your studies and whether you may qualify for one of our bursaries and scholarships
Money MattersFrom the written word to the silver screen, this joint honours course explores the middle ground between two of the world’s most important storytelling forms.
From the written word to the silver screen, this joint honours course explores the middle ground between two of the world’s most important storytelling forms.
It is a fascinating combination of English literature, with its centuries-old roots, and the relative modernity of cinematic studies. Taught by staff in a friendly, supportive and intellectually challenging environment, you'll study English literature in all its major forms - prose, poetry and drama - and cinema, in its large and small screen incarnations.
The film modules are grounded in close textual interpretation and the analysis of style, genre, historical context, and the politics of representation. As such, you’ll focus on key film genres, key directors, numerous film movements and national cinemas....
3 years full-time
4 years with placement year or study abroad
4-9 years part-time
Benjamin Ross"All of the lecturers were invested in their subjects and their passion translated in a manner that meant learning was engaging, involving and ultimately enjoyable."
BA (Hons) English and Film Alumni
Reflecting the varied and flexible nature of the study of English and film, the course scheme enables students to study both elements in equal depth and can be divided into a number of key areas. The course covers literature in all major forms (prose, poetry, drama) and from all periods since the Renaissance, whilst the film units focus on key film genres (including melodramas, musicals and horror), theories, key directors, various film movements and national cinemas.
Teaching Excellence Framework 2023-2027
National Student Survey 2024 (NSS)
Year 1 is split evenly between film-specific units and units introducing literary study. Your units in Year 1 will introduce you to the key skills and ideas needed throughout your degree.
An introduction to aspects of film language such as camerawork, editing, and mise-en-scène.
An introduction to the key aesthetic, historical, cultural and social contexts of American and European cinema.
An introduction to the analysis of narrative forms and genres, focussing primarily on pre-20th Century, 20th and 21st Century texts.
This unit introduces key skills for university study, progressing to research, writing and project development. You will learn skills of close reading and textual analysis, practice on a range of cultural forms and focussed on representations of Manchester as a diverse, international city. You will then develop your own independent project and put into practice the analytical skills developed.
The Department of English works closely with a number of local schools and voluntary organisations that give students the opportunity to gain experience in a range of areas, including youth work, education, creative workshopping and video production. These placements are generally on a voluntary basis, though some work in local schools has been waged.
In Year 2 there are core units on film and a choice of option units from the wider English programme.
Please note, these option units are indicative of what options may be on offer in Year 2 of this programme but may be subject to change.
Topic-based unit introduces a range of cinematic modes, movements and genres, whose formal, historical and cultural properties will be analysed. Topics may, for example, include: genres (eg Horror, Melodrama, Musical, Noir); theories of genre (structuralist and historical); other cinematic modes of expression (eg the gothic, queer cinema, art-house narrative) and other theoretical approaches to cinema (eg National/transnational cinemas, star studies, women's cinema).
The unit introduces and debates a variety of theoretical perspectives on film.
This unit will explore the organisations and activities that make up Manchester’s UNESCO City of Literature network, and assess ways in which literary activity can help cities address contemporary global challenges.
The unit will take students through the various stages of recruitment from identifying strengths and skills, to job searching and CVs, using platforms such as LinkedIn, and interview practice. Students will build up a portfolio of tasks related to employability, for instance, CV, video interview, assessment centre and reflect on their learning across the unit.
This unit will analyse the current climate crisis applying the methodologies of creative writing, English literature, or film and media studies.
A unit that is about reading in context, focussing on the relationship between aesthetic form, thematic content and historical context in a diverse range of texts and genres from the 19th to early 20th centuries.
You will practise reading in context, focussing on the relationships between aesthetic form, thematic content and historical context in a diverse range of texts and genres from the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
A unit that is about reading in context, focussing on the relationships between aesthetic form, thematic content and the historical context in a diverse range of texts and genres from the 1940's-1970's.
This unit investigates cultures of resistance and their historical conditions. To do so, it places a range of resistant cultural texts in dialogue with relevant theoretical and critical material.
Students focus on two literary forms chosen from a list (for example prose, poetry, scriptwriting) and follow an intensive workshop for one semester.
An innovative unit which applies interdisciplinary methods and perspectives in a professional and/or public setting. Students work in interdisciplinary teams on one of a range of projects to showcase interdisciplinary skills in practice.
An innovative unit that applies interdisciplinary methods, approaches and perspectives of humanities and social science disciplines to contemporary socio-economic challenges, complementing Engaging the Humanities 1. Each year the unit will address a different contemporary issue or theme.
This unit examines the films, industries, festivals and issues that make up the vibrant cinemas associated with the continent of Europe.
This unit explores the legacies of British colonialism as engaged in the literature and culture of postcolonial nations.
A unit that is about reading in context. You will initially focus on a diverse range of texts and genres from the 1940s to the 1970s, considering the relationships between aesthetic form, thematic content and historical context. Focus will then move onto the relationships between aesthetic form, thematic content and historical context in a diverse range of texts and genres from the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
This unit examines British literature and culture during one of its most significant periods, from the Revolutionary Controversy of the 1790s to the end of the Romantic movement around 1830.
This unit explores the production, reception and dissemination of non-Anglo-American cinema and provides students with the necessary tools to explore global screen cultures. In this unit students will interrogate the issues and experiences of transnational interaction and cross-cultural appropriation, the problems with the concept of authentic `national cinema', and consider the depiction of 'third world' and 'diaspora' populations.
How can literary and cultural texts write back to the former colonial centre, enact the decolonisation of the mind, and unpick the stereotypes and ideologies central to the establishment of the British empire? How do literary and cultural works represent the lingering effects of imperialism in the present day? What does contemporary inequality, nationalism, Islamophobia and racism have to do with Britain’s colonial past? This unit supports students to address the formal, ideological and ethical questions negotiated in postcolonial literature and cinema. The unit offers an introduction to postcolonial theory as it relates to the texts and contexts we discuss. Areas of investigation might include climate change, migration, war, gender and sexuality, race and religion.
The Department of English works closely with a number of local schools and voluntary organisations that give students the opportunity to gain experience in a range of areas, including youth work, education, creative workshopping and video production. These placements are generally on a voluntary basis, though some work in local schools has been waged.
If you choose one of our four-year routes, Year 3 will be spent on placement or studying abroad.
In your final year, you will undertake an extended critical project and select areas of study from a range of option units to suit your interests. Please note that the following list of units is indicative and may be subject to change.
This unit provides you with the opportunity to undertake a guided independent research-based project to produce an extended piece of work that presents a thesis. This will result in a piece of writing on an American topic of your choice, representing an individual project that builds upon the skills you will have developed on this course. Opportunities are also available for students to work with external partners on their research project.
The unit will take students through the various stages of recruitment from identifying strengths and skills, to job searching and CVs, using platforms such as LinkedIn, and interview practice. Students will build up a portfolio of tasks related to employability, for instance, CV, video interview, assessment centre and reflect on their learning across the unit.
American Sounds and the City combines the study of American literature, film and music to explore the soundscapes of the American city.
The Study Abroad unit will involve study for one semester at an approved partner University overseas.
The unit will aim to introduce English as a core curriculum subject in secondary schools and as an A-level subject. It will provide students with insight into the application of their subject specialism to teaching in school and colleges in England, covering aspects of both curriculum content and subject pedagogy.
This unit will focus on representations of the United States’ history, culture and selfhood promulgated by the nation’s movie industry from the early twentieth century to the present day; exploring how Hollywood has articulated, interrogated and dominated available ideas of American national identity.
Touching upon a broad range of genres, this unit is concerned with critical and creative conceptions of 'space' and travel (both geographic and metaphorical) in American literature from colonial times to the present.
This unit investigates the question of the human in contemporary cultural debate. To do so, it draws upon theoretical and critical work in the field and sets these conceptual frameworks in dialogue with a wide range of literary and cinematic texts.
This unit provides an analytical study of the gothic mode on screen.
This unit will introduce students to all parts of the book publishing process and industry. Through practical exercises and interactive lectures, students will learn how the industry developed, specialist genres such as children's publishing and how publishers commission, edit, design and produce books in all formats.
This unit draws on LGBT Studies and Queer Studies to analyse cultural constructions (and manifestations) of non-normative sex, sexes and sexualities.
This unit explores the relationship between postcolonialism and popular culture, examining the ways in which colonial histories and legacies are interrogated, mythologised or sublimated within popular cultural forms.
This unit explores the relationship between race, postcolonialism and popular culture, examining the ways in which colonial histories and legacies are interrogated, mythologised or sublimated within popular cultural forms.
This unit provides an analytical study of a range of classic and modern texts written for children. It also uses these texts as models for the production of new texts. The unit also covers appropriate techniques for writing for children. It provides you with the skills to analyse a range of children's literature, and to use the resulting knowledge to produce original texts suitable for teenagers and children.
This unit may also be taken as a 15+15-credit combination with EdLab.
This unit introduces students to the range and diversity of contemporary poetry, and develops students' own critical skills in relation to the study of contemporary poetry.
This unit provides an analytical study of a range of twenty and twenty-first century games, both analogue and digital. Students will be introduced to the critical and historical field of game studies, and given guidance on the appropriate critical approaches and terminology to enable them to read games and gaming.
Students will study a range of popular fiction texts and study the ways in which such texts conform to and subvert a set of generic conventions.
This unit is concerned with critical and creative conceptions, constructions and depictions of forms of violence and trauma, and introduces students to representations and theories of trauma drawn from multiple locations (temporal and geographic).
This unit looks at Shakespeare's plays and poems in regard to both his contemporary intellectual, political and social meanings and effect, and the influence of his work on subsequent culture, in terms reception, adaptation and reinvention.
This unit explores ideas and attitudes towards human bodies, medicine and technology in contemporary world literature, film and theory.
This unit will critically analyse the representation of place in key contemporary texts. These texts, drawn from a range of genres, will be evaluated within the frameworks (including literary geography and ecocriticism) provided by contemporary theoretical debates. The unit will also situate creative and conceptual writing about place within the context of 'real world debates': topics to be covered will include environmental crisis, regeneration and the post-industrial city, and digital technologies and spatial literacy.
The Department of English works closely with a number of local schools and voluntary organisations that give students the opportunity to gain experience in a range of areas, including youth work, education, creative workshopping and video production. These placements are generally on a voluntary basis, though some work in local schools has been waged.
Whether you’ve already made your decision about what you want to study, or you’re just considering your options, there are lots of ways you can meet us and find out more about student life at Manchester Met.
We offer:
Your studies are supported by a department of committed and enthusiastic teachers and researchers, experts in their chosen field.
We often link up with external professionals too, helping to enhance your learning and build valuable connections to the working world.
These typical entry requirements may be subject to change for the 2025/26 academic year. Please check back for further details.
GCE A levels - grades BCC or equivalent
Pearson BTEC National Extended Diploma - grade DMM
Access to HE Diploma - Pass overall with a minimum 106 UCAS Tariff points
UAL Level 3 Extended Diploma - grade of Merit overall
OCR Cambridge Technical Extended Diploma - grade DMM
T level - We welcome applications from students undertaking T level qualifications. Eligible applicants will be asked to achieve a minimum overall grade of Merit as a condition of offer
IB Diploma - Pass overall with a minimum overall score of 26 or minimum 104 UCAS Tariff points from three Higher Level subjects
Other Level 3 qualifications equivalent to GCE A level are also considered.
A maximum of three A level-equivalent qualifications will be accepted towards meeting the UCAS tariff requirement.
AS levels, or qualifications equivalent to AS level, are not accepted. The Extended Project qualification (EPQ) may be accepted towards entry, in conjunction with two A-level equivalent qualifications.
Please contact the University directly if you are unsure whether you meet the minimum entry requirements for the course.
GCSE grade C/4 in English Language or equivalent, e.g. Pass in Level 2 Functional Skills English
GCE A levels - grades BCC or equivalent
Pearson BTEC National Extended Diploma - grade DMM
Access to HE Diploma - Pass overall with a minimum 106 UCAS Tariff points
UAL Level 3 Extended Diploma - grade of Merit overall
OCR Cambridge Technical Extended Diploma - grade DMM
T level - We welcome applications from students undertaking T level qualifications. Eligible applicants will be asked to achieve a minimum overall grade of Merit as a condition of offer
IB Diploma - Pass overall with a minimum overall score of 26 or minimum 104 UCAS Tariff points from three Higher Level subjects
Other Level 3 qualifications equivalent to GCE A level are also considered.
A maximum of three A level-equivalent qualifications will be accepted towards meeting the UCAS tariff requirement.
AS levels, or qualifications equivalent to AS level, are not accepted. The Extended Project qualification (EPQ) may be accepted towards entry, in conjunction with two A-level equivalent qualifications.
Please contact the University directly if you are unsure whether you meet the minimum entry requirements for the course.
There’s further information for international students on our international website if you’re applying with non-UK qualifications.
Tuition fees for the 2025/26 academic year are still being finalised for all courses. You can find information on 2024/25 standard undergraduate fees for UK/Channel Islands and EU/Non-EU international students. All fees stated may be subject to change for the 2025/26 academic year.
Compulsory estimate: £300
Optional estimate: £300
English & Film is both a reading and a viewing subject and students must have access to a copy of all set texts. Primary texts are held in the University library but students often prefer to possess their own copy. Prices vary but many are cheaply available and set texts are often available online for no cost. Students often buy texts second hand, and there is a book exchange in the atrium of the Geoffrey Manton building. Students often choose to buy their own laptops but computers are available on campus. Students may also need to print their assignments and other documents.
Some option units include trips to relevant events or venues, e.g. cinemas, screenings, theatres, exhibitions and libraries. These are all optional.
Find out more about financing your studies and whether you may qualify for one of our bursaries and scholarships
Money MattersGraduates enter a wide range of careers, especially media work and teaching, where their transferable skills are particularly relevant. Recent graduates have become school and college teachers, and have gained employment in fields as diverse as banking, finance, manufacturing and retail.
There is also the opportunity to engage in further study and professional training, for example some of our graduates go on to study MA English Studies at postgraduate level where you have the opportunity to build your own bespoke masters experience, reflecting your interests in the further study of English. Alongside this we offer MA Publishing, delivered in collaboration with industry professionals, and many of our students go on to study MA/MFA Creative Writing at our Manchester Writing School, one of the largest and most successful of its kind in the UK. You'll have the opportunity to build on your knowledge and specialise in Scriptwriting (for stage, screen or radio). You can also specialise in Novel (including Short Fiction), Poetry, Writing for Children & Young Adults or Creative Non-Fiction.
You can apply for this course for 2025/26 entry once UCAS applications open in autumn.
Visit UCAS for further details, including deadlines.
Apply for other study options:
Please contact our course enquiries team.
Get advice and support on making a successful application.
You can review our current terms and conditions before you make your application. If you are successful with your application, we will send you up to date information alongside your offer letter.
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may make changes to our programmes, please see the changes section of our
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