Television Genre: Documentary

Documentaries usually run within a series between 4-8 weeks, depending on the length of the series of the documentary. Sometimes a documentary can be filled into a 1-2hour slot just as a one off, such as Blackfish and The September Issue. Depending on the nature of the channel, documentaries can run through the day, however more mainstream documentaries play around after 8pm and into the watershed (past 9pm) if the content is explicit or taboo.  the whole purpose is the inform the audience on a certain topic area, such as birds, or the ongoing presidential campaign.

Documentaries can differ immensely due to the vast amount of content of the documentary. Documentaries focus on on particular topic, for example they could discuss the way of life of wild animals in Africa or the hidden side of fashion. They identify with the audience and their likes. Catfish the original documentary say it brake traditional roles of how a television show is filmed, as we POV shots from the host himself. in mainstream documentaries the usually do sit down interviews with people who were there of the topic, giving it a homely feel to the audience as they base it in familiar everyday settings. Each documentaries aims to give the facts, but make interpretation and uncover new facts about the topic.


Louis Theroux documentaries are made within a series, played weekly when they do run and broadcasted after the watershed (after 9pm in the UK) due to the explicit nature of the documentaries. Throughout each documentary, Louis is introduced into the lives of people on the topic area he is studying. He indulges himself each documentary on many topics such as life in prison, interviewing prisoners or he could indulge himself in extreme right wing racist families all so he can attempt to understand their lifestyle and views. In documentaries we are introduced to the topic area at the start of the show, either through the title of that possible on of documentary like The September Issue, or we could have a high profile researcher like David Attenborough or Louis Theroux and then the topic for that specific documentary.