• 3-minute read
• 4th July 2021

How to Cite a TV or Radio Program in MHRA Referencing

If you’ve referred to a television show or radio program in your writing, it’s important that you cite it in the correct way. In this guide, to help out, we explain how to cite a TV or radio program in MHRA referencing.

Citing a TV or Radio Program in MHRA Referencing

In MHRA style, you cite sources using superscript numbers in the main text, each of which indicates a footnote. You would usually place these superscript numbers after the final punctuation in the relevant sentence:

MHRA referencing is commonly used in the arts and humanities.¹

Then, you give the source information in a footnote at the bottom of the page. For a TV or radio program, the basic footnote format is as follows:

n. ‘Title of Specific Program’, Title of Series, TV Channel or Radio Station, date and (if relevant) time of transmission.

Here is an example of a footnote citation for a radio program:

1. ‘Chasing Unicorns’, Analysis, BBC Radio 4, 22 November 2020.

If you cite the same program more than once, you can then use a shortened footnote format for subsequent citations. The title of the specific program will usually be enough to make it clear to the reader which source you are citing. However, if the program doesn’t have a title and has only been cited as, say, “Episode 4,” you should include the title of the series as well.

Pinpoint Citations for TV and Radio Programs in MHRA

MHRA referencing does not require pinpoint citations for audiovisual sources. However, if you wish to use a quote or direct your readers to a precise moment in a program, you can do so by including a timestamp at the end of the footnote. 

This takes the format of a series of two-digit numbers, which indicate the hours, minutes, and seconds into the program at which the relevant part begins:

2. ‘The Hunters and the Hunted’, Life on Earth, BBC2, 27 March 1979, 00:20:47.

Here, the timestamp signifies that the part being cited begins 20 minutes and 47 seconds into the program, allowing readers to locate the exact moment.

TV and Radio Programs in an MHRA Bibliography

You should include any television or radio broadcasts you cite in your work in the bibliography at the end of the document. The format used in the bibliography is almost the same as that in the footnotes, but there are a few differences:

1. The full stop at the end of the entry is removed.
2. If the entry goes over more than one line, then each line after the first should have a small hanging indent.
3. Pinpoint citations (timestamps) should be removed.

In an MHRA bibliography, entries are listed in alphabetical order. You alphabetise television and radio programs by the first main word of the title. So, for our above examples, the bibliography entries would look like this:

‘Chasing Unicorns’, Analysis, BBC Radio 4, 22 November 2020

‘The Hunters and the Hunted’, Life on Earth, BBC2, 27 March 1979

Note that the footnote numbers do not appear in the bibliography.

Expert MHRA Proofreading

Hopefully, you now feel confident citing TV shows and radio programs in MHRA style. However, if you’d like an expert to check your writing, our proofreaders are at your service 24/7. Why not submit a free trial document today?