Overall, this book is a thought-provoking and insightful read that adds to our understanding of how the media constructs, reinforces, and challenges social identities through language and characterization strategies. The author's use of corpus linguistics has helped to provide a rigorous and systematic analysis of the language used in popular television series, and her examination of different characterization strategies adds depth and nuances to our understanding of how these series construct and negotiate social identities. In addition, the style of the book is extremely reader-friendly without any obscure terminology or needlessly complicated diction. The book is highly recommended for scholars and students interested in media studies, linguistics, and cultural studies. As the use of audiovisual products, where different semiotic codes contribute to the construction of meaning, has proved to be a valuable tool in language teaching, this publication is also of vital importance for using films and television series for pragmatics and ESP teaching.