DEFINING TV DRAMA

LO: Can I define TV drama and its sub-genres?

What is TV Drama?
Write a list of the TV Dramas you know.

Put them into groups and label the categories.

How have you decided to group them? Why?

Definitions?
Fictionalised action in narrative form, produced for TV.

A story that is presented in a dramatic way.

It is scripted and normally fictional. Broad genre - includes everything from soap operas to

classic literary adaptations as well as different narrative forms: single dramas, two-parts, mini-series, series and continuing dramas.

 The proliferation of sub-genres has its roots in the 1950s

when the BBC, and then later ITV, attempted to attract different kinds of audiences. It was then that the first childrens serials, classic drama, crime dramas, medical series and adventure series appeared. However, broadcasters still label the diverse range as TV Drama.

Sub-genres
A sub-genre is when genres are subdivided into even

more specific categories. What sub-genres can you think of?

Teen Dramas
Depends entirely on the target audience, empathising with

a range of authentic characters, age-specific situations and anxieties. E.g. Skins

Soap Operas
Attempts to represent domestic real life which is

recognisable to the audience as everyday and at the same time melodramatic and exciting. E.g. Eastenders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale.

Period/Costume Dramas
Often linked to classic novels or plays and offer a set of

pleasures that are very different to dramas set in our times. E.g. Downton Abbey

Medical/Hospital Dramas
We witness trauma and suffering on the part of patients

and relatives with a set of staff narratives that deploy soap opera conventions. E.g. Holby City, Casualty

Police/Crime Dramas
These work in the same was as medical/hospital dramas

but we can substitute the health context for representation of criminals, victims and the police. E.g. Sherlock, The Bill

 Audiences like choice and different audiences find

appeals in different types of media texts (Uses and Gratifications, Blumler and Katz) What is in each TV programme has been constructed to appeal to those audiences. Representation is constructed your task is to deconstruct how it has been created using technical language.

HW Due Tuesday 28th January

Find and watch a clip from each sub-genre and identify its

target audience. Identify some conventions across TV drama (at least 5)

How do you know this? Back up your point with an example. Upload the clip on your blog, and write your response One paragraph for each sub-genre