Identify the episode within the series
Learning on Screen’s audiovisual citation guidance distinguishes an episode or extract title from the main programme or series title. Keep those levels separate when recording your source. A recurring documentary strand can contain many unrelated films, while a long-running drama can have several episodes with similar descriptions. Add a series number or other supplied episode identifier where relevant.
Record the broadcast and accessed version
The guidance includes production information, transmission channel and date, and an access point such as an archive reference or original web URL. For online viewing it also includes an access date. Note these details while the page is available. A later upload or a home-video edition can provide a different route to the material without changing the identity of the original broadcast.
Give the passage its own start and end
For an extract, record the time range as well as the duration of the whole programme. Check whether your counter refers to the complete item or a separately supplied clip, and label that context in your notes. Otherwise, a reader following the stated minute in another version may land on an unrelated scene despite finding the correct programme.
Describe uncertainty instead of filling gaps
The same guidance distinguishes a surviving clip from an extract selected within a full item and provides ways to identify a title supplied by the researcher. Use the information the source actually supplies. If a broadcast date or credit is unknown, do not infer it from a website’s upload date. Apply your institution’s required citation style while preserving the details needed to relocate and assess the evidence.
Questions, answered
Is the URL enough for a television extract reference?
Usually it leaves useful identification missing. Learning on Screen’s guidance includes programme and broadcast details, the access point and a start–end range for the extract.