Dr Diane A. Rodgers PhD, FHEA, PgCert LTHE
Senior Lecturer
Summary
I'm a Senior Lecturer in Media, teaching across a variety of modules but specialising in Alternative Media and Storytelling in film and television, specialising in cult film, horror, television, underground comics and music. I am also a co-founder of the Centre for Contemporary Legend research group and a member of the CCMS steering committee.
My PhD was on folk horror and hauntology in 'wyrd' 1970s British Film and Television. My research interests relate to the communication of folklore and contemporary legend in the media including: all areas of horror, folk horror; folklore on screen; the supernatural and children’s television. I’m interested in supervising PhD students in any of these areas.
About
My research examines the communication of folklore and hauntological aspects of British 1970s television (for adults and children), and the impact of this upon modern media and perceptions about folklore. I am particularly interested in unsettling horror, onscreen representations of the supernatural, the use of stone circles on screen, the work of Nigel Kneale and ‘spooky’ television programming aimed at children.
I regularly publish on a variety of topics related to my interests, I frequently collaborate with colleagues on research projects which have recently included co-editing a book on the television phenomena The X-Files and a research paper examining the cultural implications of perceptions of witchcraft as shaped by YouTube algorithms. I also conduct a significant amount of work with my Centre for Contemporary Legend colleagues in order to develop the profile of folklore studies and promote public and academic engagement and diverse representation within the subject. I welcome PhD proposals in the area of horror, folk horror, hauntology or the broad area of folklore and contemporary legend on screen and in the media.
Taught modules include Alternative Media, heavily grounded in theory, examining underground comics, music, social and political movements, film, television and comedy. I also teach Storytelling in Film and Television which uses textual analysis to consider how meaning is created onscreen across a number of examples from both classic and cult film and television. I am a member of The Folklore Society and the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research. I am also involved in practice related to my teaching outside of my work, including performing live music with my band The Sleazoids and carrying out digital video editing work for feature film, music videos and online projects.
Senior Lecturer
Specialist areas of interest
Folklore and folk horror in film and television
Alternative culture
Teaching
Department of Media Arts and Communication
College of Social Sciences and Arts
Link 1: https://contemporarylegend.co.uk/info/
Link 2: https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/c3riimpact/tag/diane-rodgers/
Subject area
Media and Photography
Courses
Media
Modules
Alternative Media, Storytelling in Film & Television, Making Media, Media Identities and Representations, Media Audiences.
Research
- Culture and Creativity Research Institute
Current projects include:
AHRC-funded National Folklore Survey, led by my Centre for Contemporary Legend (CCL) colleague Dr David Clarke, partnering with the University of Hertfordshire and University of California.
AHRC-funded project Dracula Returns to Derby, led by Professor Matthew Cheeseman at the University of Derby, partnering with Derby Museums.
I am currently under contract to write my first monograph 'WYRD TV: Folklore, Folk horror and Television' for BFI Publishing, and recently completed the co-edited collection 'The Legacy of The X-Files' (Fenwick and Rodgers, 2024). I have chapters in several recent publications on Folk Horror including in 'The Routledge Companion to Folk Horror' (Edgar and Johnson, 2024) and 'Folk Horror on Film' (Bayman and Donnelly, 2024).
Link 1: https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/c3riimpact/in-multicultural-britain-local-folklore-is-just-as-important-as-ever-the-centre-for-contemporary-legend-at-sheffield-hallam-university-to-conduct-the-ukri-funded-national-folklore-survey/#:~:text=The%20Centre%20for%20Contemporary%20Legend%20at%20Sheffield%20Hallam%20University%2C%20is,%2Dpandemic%2C%20multicultural%20England%E2%80%9D.
Link 2: https://www.derby.ac.uk/news/2024/dracula-returns-to-derby/
Link 3: https://contemporarylegend.co.uk/info/
AHRC
University of Hertfordshire
University of California
University of Derby
Derby Museums
Publications
Key Publications
Rodgers, D., & Paciorek, A. (2019). Urban Folklore: An Interview with Diane A. Rodgers. In Folk Horror Revival: Urban Wyrd 2: Spirits of Place. Wyrd Harvest Press
Rodgers, D. (2019). Wyrd on-screen: urban fears and rural folk. In Urban Wyrd. Wyrd Harvest Press
Rodgers, D. (2019). Something ‘wyrd’ this way comes: folklore and British television. Folklore. http://doi.org/10.1080/0015587X.2018.1529363
Rodgers, D. (2018). Something Wyrd: Folk Horror, Folklore and British Television. Presented at: Centre for Contemporary Legend Inaugural Symposium, Sheffield Hallam University, 2018
Rodgers, D. (2018). The Outcasts: A forgotten, wyrd classic of British folk horror. Cinema Retro, 14 (41), 30-31.
Rodgers, D. (2017). Researcher blog by Diane Rodgers: ‘wyrd' British television of the 1970's. [IMPACT Research Blog]. https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/c3riimpact/diane-rodgers-wyrd-tv-blog/?doing_wp_cron=1513331862.0696480274200439453125
Rodgers, D. (2017). Robin Redbreast and BBC'S Play for today: 1970's folk horror for Christmas. In Corupe, P., & Janisse, K.-.L. (Eds.) Yuletide Terror: Christmas Horror on Film and Television. (pp. 156-169). Spectacular Optical: http://www.spectacularoptical.ca/store/product/yuletide-terror-christmas-horror-on-film-and-television-2/
Rodgers, D. (2017). HEAD: a jubilant rampage through sixties psychedelia! Cinema Retro, 37. http://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?/categories/48-BACK-ISSUES-37-40
Journal articles
Rodgers, D.A. (2025). Monstrous Megaliths: Ancient Stones in Folk Horror Film and Television – Showing, Telling and Making On-Screen Folklore. Journal of British Cinema and Television, 22 (3), 364-386. http://doi.org/10.3366/jbctv.2025.0777
Rodgers, D. (2024). Monstrous Megaliths: Spooky Stones of Folk Horror. Contemporary Legend, 2 (4), 1-7. https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/cl/article/view/38413
Rodgers, D.A. (2023). The X-Philes: Fandom and paratextual narratives. Legacy of the X Files, 163-165.
Rodgers, D.A. (2023). Contemporary legend: Conspiracy, belief and politics. Legacy of the X Files, 101-103.
Rodgers, D. (2020). Folk horror, ostension and Robin Redbreast. Revenant, 57-73. http://www.revenantjournal.com/contents/folk-horror-ostension-and-robin-redbreast/
Rodgers, D. (2019). Swinging sixties spies in comic book guise! Fathom and Modesty Blaise. Cinema Retro.
Rodgers, D. (2017). DVD review: The Electric Horseman. Cinema Retro, 38. http://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?/categories/48-BACK-ISSUES-37-40
Rodgers, D. (2016). DVD REVIEW: Looking for Richard. .
Rodgers, D. (2016). BOOK REVIEW: Cult Cinema: An Arrow Video Companion. .
Rodgers, D. (2016). BOOK REVIEW: Satanic Panic: Pop Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s. .
Rodgers, D. (2015). DVD REVIEW: Mississippi Burning. .
Rodgers, D. (2015). Book Review: the French screen goddess: film stardom and the modern woman in 1930s France by Jonathan Driskell. Cinema Retro, 11 (33), 44.
Rodgers, D. (2015). Book Review: From France with love: gender and indentity in French romantic comedy by Mary Harrod FROM FRANCE WITH LOVE: GENDER AND IDENTITY IN FRENCH ROMANTIC COMEDY by Mary Harrod. . http://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?/archives/8757-BOOK-REVIEW-FROM-FRANCE-WITH-LOVE-GENDER-AND-IDENTITY-IN-FRENCH-ROMANTIC-COMEDY-By-Mary-Harrod-I.-B.-Tauris.html
Rodgers, D. (n.d.). The eerie folklore of Robin Redbreast. Revenant.
Book chapters
Fenwick, J., & Rodgers, D. (2023). Introduction: a critical reflection on thirty years of The X-Files. In Fenwick, J., & Rodgers, D. (Eds.) The Legacy of The X-Files. New York: Bloomsbury Academic: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/legacy-of-the-xfiles-9781501387630/
Fenwick, J., & Rodgers, D. (2023). Introduction: a critical reflection on thirty years of The X-Files. In Fenwick, J., & Rodgers, D. (Eds.) The Legacy of The X-Files. New York: Bloomsbury Academic: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/legacy-of-the-xfiles-9781501387630/
Fenwick, J. (2023). Introduction to Part one: Cultural legacies: landscape, environment, technology. In Fenwick, J., & Rodgers, D. (Eds.) The Legacy of The X-Files. New York: Bloomsbury Academic: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/legacy-of-the-xfiles-9781501387630/
Fenwick, J. (2023). Introduction to Part four: Intersectional legacies: identity and representation. In Fenwick, J., & Rodgers, D. (Eds.) The Legacy of The X-Files. New York: Bloomsbury Academic: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/legacy-of-the-xfiles-9781501387630/
Rodgers, D. (2023). Introduction to Part Two: Contemporary legend: conspiracy, belief and politics. In Fenwick, J., & Rodgers, D. (Eds.) The Legacy of The X-Files. New York: Bloomsbury Academic: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/legacy-of-the-xfiles-9781501387630/
Rodgers, D. (2023). Introduction to Part Three: The X-Philes: fandom and paratextual narratives. In Fenwick, J., & Rodgers, D. (Eds.) The Legacy of The X-Files. New York: Bloomsbury Academic: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/legacy-of-the-xfiles-9781501387630/
Rodgers, D. (2023). Introduction to Part Three: The X-Philes: fandom and paratextual narratives. In Fenwick, J., & Rodgers, D. (Eds.) The Legacy of The X-Files. New York: Bloomsbury Academic: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/legacy-of-the-xfiles-9781501387630/
Rodgers, D. (2023). Introduction to Part Two: Contemporary legend: conspiracy, belief and politics. In Fenwick, J., & Rodgers, D. (Eds.) The Legacy of The X-Files. New York: Bloomsbury Academic: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/legacy-of-the-xfiles-9781501387630/
Clarke, D. (2023). I want to believe: how UFOs conquered the X-files. In Fenwick, J., & Rodgers, D. (Eds.) The Legacy of The X-files. (pp. 105-120). New York: Bloomsbury Academic: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/legacy-of-the-xfiles-9781501387630/
Clarke, D. (2023). I want to believe: how UFOs conquered the X-files. In Fenwick, J., & Rodgers, D. (Eds.) The Legacy of The X-files. (pp. 105-120). New York: Bloomsbury Academic: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/legacy-of-the-xfiles-9781501387630/
Rodgers, D. (2023). Ghosts in the Machine. Folklore and Technology On-screen in Ghostwatch (1992) and Host (2020). In Edgar, R., & Johnson, W. (Eds.) The Routledge Companion to Folk Horror. (pp. 194-203). Routledge: http://doi.org/10.4324/9781003191292-22
Rodgers, D. (2021). Et in Arcadia Ego: British folk horror film and television. In Hart, C., & Cheeseman, M. (Eds.) Folklore and Nation in Britain and Ireland. Routledge: https://www.routledge.com/Folklore-and-Nation-in-Britain-and-Ireland/Cheeseman-Hart/p/book/9780367440961
Theses / Dissertations
Rodgers, D. (2022). Wyrd TV: Folklore, folk horror and hauntology in British 1970s Television. (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Clarke, D., & Hall, S. http://doi.org/10.7190/shu-thesis-00492
Internet Publications
Rodgers, D. (2022). Reflections on the Centre for Folklore, Myth & Magic. https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/c3riimpact/diane-rodgers-researcher-blog-reflections-on-the-centre-for-folklore-myth-and-magic-in-todmorden-sat-1st-october-2022/
Rodgers, D. (2022). Behind the Scenes at Glasgow Film Festival. https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/c3riimpact/dianerodgersbehindthescenesatglasgowfilmfestival2022/
Rodgers, D. (2021). Reflections on an International Contemporary Legend Conference. https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/c3riimpact/diane-a-rodgers-brings-us-perspectives-on-contemporary-legend-reflections-on-an-international-contemporary-legend-conference/
Rodgers, D. (2020). Folklore in Film, Television and Museum Exhibits. https://folkloremuseumsnetwork.org.uk/
Rodgers, D. (2019). Happy Halloween: Five Folk Horror Films. https://contemporarylegend.co.uk/2019/11/04/happy-halloween-by-diane-a-rodgers/
Rodgers, D. (2019). How years of TV fears keep us spooked at Halloween. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zvt8cqt
Rodgers, D. (2019). Folklore On Screen. https://blogs.shu.ac.uk/c3riimpact/diane-rodgers-researcher-blog-folklore-screen/?doing_wp_cron=1605532185.0816481113433837890625
Karan, S. (2017). Yuletide terror: Christmas horror on film and television Indiegogo campaign. [Online Magazine]. http://montrealrampage.com/yuletide-terror-christmas-horror-on-film-and-teleivion-indiegogo-campaign/
Rodgers, D. (2017). Berlinale 2017 Highlights. https://www.showroomworkstation.org.uk/diane-rodgers-berlinale2017
Performances
Blindboy, (2025). The Blindboy Podcast Live. Sheffield City Hall Performance.
Media
Russell, R. (2024). The Last Sacrifice. [Documentary Feature Film]. Intermission FIlm
Rodgers, D. (2024). The Outcasts - DVD Commentary. [DVD commentary]. BFI: https://shop.bfi.org.uk/the-outcasts-flipside-049-blu-ray.html?srsltid=AfmBOoq1qodSkGvtdKRZJrKpoD-uj7ZnGsEc7_wz_PtyJEyGCJIoFxz9
Rodgers, D. (2024). Stone Warnings – Dr. Diane A. Rodgers On Stone Circles And Standing Stones In Film And Television. [DVD documentary extra]. Severin Films: https://severinfilms.com/en-gb/products/all-the-haunts-be-ours-a-compendium-of-folk-horror-vol-2-13-disc-blu-ray-box-set-hardback-book?srsltid=AfmBOoq2dUOcTNEI1-8uVpKjhtPimv66NbN0XGbi4L16s7a317FPP7ni
Rodgers, D. (2024). Stone Warnings – Dr. Diane A. Rodgers On Stone Circles And Standing Stones In Film And Television. [DVD documentary extra]. Severin Films: https://severinfilms.com/en-gb/products/all-the-haunts-be-ours-a-compendium-of-folk-horror-vol-2-13-disc-blu-ray-box-set-hardback-book?srsltid=AfmBOoq2dUOcTNEI1-8uVpKjhtPimv66NbN0XGbi4L16s7a317FPP7ni
Presentations
Rodgers, D. (2025). Insatiable Thirst : vampire lore and Thirst (1979). Presented at: Dracula Returns to Derby, University of Derby
Rodgers, D. (2023). Future Folktales & Monstrous Megaliths. Presented at: Future Folktales, University of Sheffield
Rodgers, D., & Fenwick, J. (2023). The Art of the X-Files. Presented at: The Art of The X-Files, Peak Theatre, SHU
Rodgers, D. (2023). Folklore, Folk Horror and Generation Hexed. Presented at: FOLKLORE, FOLK HORROR AND GENERATION HEXED (LONDON), Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies, London
Rodgers, D. (2023). Monstrous Megaliths: spooky stones of folk horror. Presented at: Perspectives on Contemporary Legend, Sheffield Hallam University, 2023
Rodgers, D. (2022). Generation HeXed. Presented at: Horrifying Children: Hauntology and the Legacy of Children’s Fictions, York, UK, 2022
Rodgers, D. (2022). Fact, Fiction and Folklore in Film. Presented at: Fact, Fiction and Folklore in Film, Glasgow, Scotland, 2022
Rodgers, D. (2021). Folk Horror on Screen. Presented at: The Unholy Trinity of Folk Horror, Sheffield, UK
Rodgers, D. (2021). Creative COVID Customs and Folklore in Contemporary Film and Television. Presented at: Creativity during the Covid lockdown: Life and Renewal During the Pandemic, Royal Anthropological Institute [online]
Rodgers, D. (2021). "Isn't Folk Horror All Horror?". Presented at: Fear 2000: Horror Unbound, Sheffield Hallam University [online], 2021
Clarke, D. (2021). Nigel Kneale, Quatermass, and Ancient Astronauts. Presented at: The Sky in Legend and Tradition, Salisbury
Rodgers, D. (2021). Contemporary Folklore, Contemporary Media & Covid Customs. Presented at: Perspectives on Contemporary Legend, Tarragona, Spain [online]
Zhang, H., Rodgers, D., Rodriguez-Amat, J.R., & Belinskaya, Y. (2021). Algorithmic Alchemy: The Power of the Witch on YouTube. Presented at: ICA 2021 - 71st Annual Conference, Denver, Colorado [online]
Zhang, H., Rodgers, D.A., Rodriguez-Amat, J.R., & Belinskaya, Y. (2021). The Shape of Witchcraft. Analytics of Recommendation Algorithms and the Platformization of Culture. Presented at: Algorithms in Film, Television and Sound Cultures: New Ways of Knowing and Storytelling, Bilgi University, Istanbul [online]
Rodgers, D. (2020). Ghosts in the Machine: Haunted Screens. Presented at: Haunts - haunted places and haunting practices, Sheffield Hallam University [online], 2020
Robinson, A., Clarke, D., & Rodgers, D. (2020). Folklore, Custom and Contemporary Legend - The CCL Research Group at SHU. Presented at: Creating Knowledge Conference 2020, Online, 2020
Rodgers, D. (2020). My part in the Centre for Contemporary Legend. Presented at: SHU Creating Knowledge Conference, Sheffield Hallam University [online], 2020
Rodgers, D. (2019). Beasts, Monoliths & Witchcraft – the Unsung Nigel Kneale. Presented at: Folklore on Screen, Sheffield Hallam University
Rodgers, D. (2019). Et in Arcadia Ego: The Very British Landscape of Folk Horror. Presented at: Folklore and the Nation, Derby, UK, 2019
Rodgers, D. (2018). Why Wyrd? Why folklore? Why now? Presented at: Screening the Unreal, University of Brighton, 2018
Rodgers, D. (2017). Folklore: the eerie underbelly of British 1970s folk-horror television? Presented at: At Home With Horror? Terror on the Small Screen, University of Kent, Canterbury, 2017
Rodgers, D. (2017). Millennial ghosts and folk-horror legends: haunted by British 1970s television. Presented at: Fear 2000: Horror Media Now, Sheffield,UK, 2017
Other publications
Rodgers, D. (2025). Insatiable Thirst.
Other activities
President-elect of the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research
Postgraduate supervision
I welcome PhD proposals in the area of folk horror, hauntology or the broad area of folklore and contemporary legend on screen and in the media.