drama series - waterloo road

Waterloo Road is a British television drama series set in a comprehensive school of the same name, broadcast on BBC One and later also on BBC Three.  The first episode was broadcast on BBC One on 9 March 2006 and the final episode on BBC Three on 9 March 2015, Waterloo Road ran for 10 series, 200 episodes and exactly 9 years. The show was usually broadcasted at 8 o'clock and ran for 60 minutes, however sometimes varied between 8-9 and sometimes 9-10, suggesting the target audience is for not necessarily the older generation but the teenage and onwards ages, we assume this as the show revolves around teenagers and their lives in school and at home, suggesting that the similar age group audience could have the ability to relate to the programme. throughout the 9 years of the show, there have been many accidents, deaths, new characters and even the school being moved from rochdale ,England to Greenock, Scotland. each key character that enters the show is given an episode to inform the audience of their back story, and life in and out of school, sometimes stories unfold throughout a certain amount of episodes however something completely unexpected can occur in the space of one episode, these types of structures can keep the audience wanting to watch the next episode and experience thrill and shock when something they did not expect to occur. 

I think a lot of the teenage audience watch this programme to receive the pleasure of personal identity, the programme revolves around characters who are presented to be a similar age to them and possibly experience similar situations to the characters in the home environment or school. the audience, especially those of the teenage audience i could imagine watch waterloo road for the pleasure of social interaction, to be able to discuss and gossip about the characters and what happens on the episodes with their friends or family, use the happenings n the show or the programme in general to build conversation. we could say this is conventional to the drama genre due to generally the 'drama' that occurs at the school with the students and teachers on a daily basis, the things we class as factors of a drama series, we can find in waterloo road, ranging from dramatic death scenes, affairs, a villain, a hero, a victim. the plots are open ended and many storylines are featured or even interlinked in an episode. 

this particular programme's target audience i would say is fairly obvious, as the show is based on and around teenagers and school, so people of that age group between the ages of 10 and 20, who would be currently in school/education. how could the older generation relate or find it interesting to view. many viewers could watch the programme for entertainment, to escape from their everyday reality, for this pacific target audience that could be school, which is sort of ironic because they are watching the school and its happenings, although this could further engage the teen viewers more because they go to school too. social interaction could also be a possibility, watching the show would allow students and friends to interact and have something to talk about they both parties find exciting and fun to talk about. certain individuals could also view the show for the pleasure of personal identity, comparing their own life with the characters and situations portrayed, this could be easy for student viewers and common school life struggles are represented in the show, making it easy to relate and compare ones self with. however, we could also say the show could attract some middle aged individuals, they could watch the show for the pleasure of information, possibly about the workings and happenings of an average public school, maybe comparing it to what their child might experience in their own school. 

 the opening sequence sounds with a loud punchy guitar riff, this could suggest the reckless and mischievous representation of the school and the students withheld