My main research and publication interests these days are in the fields of British, Canadian and Irish Cinema. In a previous life, I also worked and published on contemporary Irish fiction, mainly Brian Moore and John Banville. After a rather interesting upbringing in less than peaceful Belfast, Northern Ireland, I went to study in England, first at Sheffield University, and then at Leeds University, where I did a Masters in Drama and Theatre Arts, during which I also had the opportunity to work on projects in their Television studio. It seems on the basis of this experience in 1982 that I secured a job at Lewes Technical College to teach video production, drama, and also assist in producing opera for the local Music School.

In 1984, I decided to study for a Ph.D. in English literature at UBC, so flew to beautiful Vancouver. While studying for that degree, I separately worked on a book on Swedish Cinema, published in 1986, and then on Irish Cinema published in 1988. In 1988, I moved for a year to teach film studies at the University of Manitoba, and strangely enough, was hired back at UBC to teach film studies in 1989 in what was then merely The Department of Theatre. Since then, I have taught every film studies course we offer, and have published two more books, edited a special issue of a journal, and written various articles on cinematic topics. Currently, I am working on editing a collection of essays on Genre and Irish Cinema to be published by Routledge in 2007.