Lesson plan:

Conflict in narrative

Lighthouse Blues takes sides in terms of the environmental issues with which it deals. The side it takes - against development and in favour of conservation will probably seem naturally right to many students but it is important to draw their attention to the way the episode, like many texts, actively encourages support for one side and disapproval of the other.

View and discuss

View Lighthouse Blues then discuss the conflict on which the episode is based and the side of the conflict which the audience is invited to take. Ask students to suggest how the episode invites the audience to take one side rather than the other.

Points to note include:

• the fact that audience sympathies are established before the program begins because regular viewers have become used to sympathising with the Twists and disliking Mr Gribble
• the characterisation of Henderson, the developer (his appearance and behaviour play a major role here)
• the role played by the ghosts.

It is possible to see the ghosts as performing a symbolic function by symbolically showing the lighthouse's connection to the past - they are a way of showing that the lighthouse contains memories of the past.

Individual or small group activity

Having denaturalised the position offered by the episode, ask students to consider whether a case could be presented for Mr Gribble's position? Students could be asked to write down some arguments in favour of demolishing the lighthouse and creating an amusement park. These reasons might be ones mentioned in the episode or they could be ones thought of by the students themselves.

Class discussion

Discuss whether all old buildings should be conserved at all costs. Students should consider the difficulty of such concepts as "historical significance" and "changing priorities".

Students could also consider the issues involved in the adaptation of buildings to new purposes and the issue of "facadism" which involves leaving only the front wall of an historic building but totally destroying the rest. Facadism has been the subject of a great deal of controversy. At what point do compromises such as adaptation and facadism become pseudo-conservation?

In small groups

Students draw up a policy for the preservation of buildings which deals with issues such as historical significance, maintenance costs, opportunity costs, social impact, the extent of adaptation and modification allowed.

Research in the local community

Where appropriate, students might consider and research the significance of some of the older buildings in the area in which they live.