Since television both reflects and affects society, how blacks are portrayed in television drama is significant for program producers, the audience, and for consideration in debates on multicultural content, minority access, and integrated casting. Previous work in the field of blacks and television has been based on observational sociology, audience figures, or content analysis, and the processes of production have been largely ignored. This research combines the sociological and semiological methods of inquiry to provide a more dynamic and integrated analysis of the representations by making a critical study of the way in which blacks were portrayed in British television drama, a genre in which more conscious and deliberate decisions are made in regard to scripting, directing, casting, and production, than in news and entertainment programs. Content analyses were done on more than 600 randomly selected British programs. The appearances of blacks were analyzed in detail to define the kinds of roles portrayed, frequency of their appearances, and the recurrence of particular images. Two producers were also interviewed about black representation on drama, and an audience survey was done among black viewers in five British towns. The paper outlines the main findings of the research and makes connections with the social situation in Britain. (CGD)