Television - Drama

• Luther
• Sherlock
• The Office
• Downton Abbey
• Misfits
• Life on Mars
• Peaky Blinders
• Shameless
• The Musketeers

 

Format

Typically, this genre runs in series' consisting of varying amounts of episodes in each. The shows are usually scheduled to be broadcast from 7pm as this allows families to watch it as they will have finished school or work. Throughout the series, there is a large, often complex narrative that is resolved more and more as each episode passes yet every episode has its own narrative that is resolved or may even end on a cliffhanger to keep audiences coming back. As a series ends it is common for a larger twist or cliffhanger to occur in order to prepare the audience for what is to come when the show comes back.

Appeals

Drama series offer the audience a form of escapism from everyday life and transport them into more exciting worlds filled interesting characters and scenarios. On top of this, the fact that the shows are often broadcast on mainstream networks means that a large number of people will watch them which gives people something to interact with others about. As well as this, the characters offer us a chance to compare our own experiences with theirs which helps you to relate to the show more and have more interest in the events that transpire. The shows are often unconventional in the way that they all offer something original to an audience as a unique selling point and they need this in order to market themselves more effectively however they do follow familiar conventions such as problem and then a resolution in order to remain familiar to the audience.

Target audience

The target audience for UK drama would be the mainstream audience type. As UK drama shows are very popular and watched by many, people would want to keep watching in order to fit in during social situations with others which they would not be able to if they didn't have the talking points from watching the show. As well as this, the shows broadcasting schedules offer the chance to sit down with your family and watch them together, something the mainstream audiences profile would want. 

Depending on the show the age of a viewer can vary greatly yet typically they are at least teenagers as the topics discussed within the shows are usually serious topics. Families could watch them together yet so could individuals, the fact that the genre can be watched by so many people is a staple of the genre itself as they offer something for everyone.

Opening Sequence

The opening sequence for Sherlock is fast paced and instantly establishes the setting as London through the use of iconography such as the London eye and Big Ben. The fast pace tells us that the show is going to be tense and adds mystery and suspense, this is enhanced with cut in shots of blood, guns and voyeuristic shots of the public.

Setting

UK dramas often take place in cities and busy environments because the shows focus on relationships between people and what better way to have plenty of people than to set your show in an urban environment. Also, the majority of people watching will be from urban or suburban backgrounds and therefore they can relate to these environments better than they could do a with a rural setting. These shows also use studios to reproduce highly controlled environments with perfected lighting and mise-en-scene.
 

Technical Codes

Often the shows use fast paced editing to create tension in the audience as this helps to increase the suspense that the show gives off. Common shot types are close ups in (order to relate to characters) and shot reverse shots to show the relationship between characters on screen. Combine this with plenty of wide shots to showcase the environment and you have easily identifiable characters and the setting they are within. Non-diegetic music is often used to help add energy to certain scenes and build tension as the music builds. 

Characters and Representations

These shows often blur the lines between 'good guys' and 'bad guys' as the protagonists always have a flaw that gives them edge and makes them more interesting to watch. UK drama has taken a likeness to the crime genre and due to the modern trend of darker, grittier themes as it is no longer as entertaining to watch a wholly innocent protagonist go about his business as it is seeing the character struggle with the blurred line separating good and bad. However, these shows do of course use stereotypes in order to create characters that are easily identifiable by an audience such as the chav and the wise old mother figure. As well as this, when a show changes era they use costume to stereotype what type of class the characters are with often drastic differences between the lower, middle and upper classes.

Narrative 

Binary oppositions presented in UK drama are often good vs evil and law vs crime, however sometimes they may be mixed up so that the protagonist does not necessarily follow the law and so we are rooting for the criminals. Following Todorov's stages of narrative, TV series often begin in a state of equilibrium and it is here that we are introduced to the characters. As the series progresses, the disruption, recognition, and the attempt to repair will all take place across many episodes. However, the series may not specifically end on the reinstatement of the equilibrium in order to create a cliffhanger that causes people to want to watch the next series. Internal conflicts that characters have to go through during the disruption and the attempt to repair the disruption tell us a lot about the world we live in as these problems reflect everyday issues and can be presented as microcosms to relate to the audience. Each episode will usually end with an enigma code in order to raise questions with the audience that to answer they will need to keep watching. The main bulk of the episodes will therefore take the form of action codes in order to move the narrative forward and answer the questions that have been prominent across the series. UK drama values the enigma code as they often challenge the audience and can often help to shatter expectations.