about crime documentaries

1. Crime

2. Institution's
Channel 4 and The BBC are two of the main institution's who air crime documentaries.
Channel 4 show the following;
• Dispatches
• Manhunt
• Behind bars
• Murder Trial
The BBC show the following;
• Motorway Cops
• Watchdog
• Crime watch
• Breaking Britain: Crackdown
• Countryside Cops

3. Crime Documentaries
• There are varying types of crime documentaries. What makes them different
from one another is; how they’re laid out, whether they are chronologically
set or not or how specific they are to one particular crime or many little ones
(‘soft’ crimes, such as speeding).
• Through research I found that The BBC focus more on ‘soft’ crimes, such as
robbery’s, speeding and theft, rather than Channel 4 who focus more on
specific (sometimes televised crimes) such as; murder trials, manhunts,
paedophilia and so on.

4. Target Audiences
• I think that the target audience for crime documentaries are those with an interest in
the way the system works, the way the mind works (people interested/studying
psychology; mass murders/paedophilia… and whether there is a psychological
cause for this behaviour, etc.)
• I am aiming towards two different age groups. This is because this particular
documentary style appeals to a wide audience with different views on the subject,
and how to deal with crime, and the system. Teenagers firstly, will want to watch this
type of documentary because it may be something they find interesting, so will
therefore want to agree or disagree with the overall message.

5. …
• Adults will also want to watch it so that they can understand why the system makes
particular decisions, and why criminals perhaps do what they do, etc. Especially is an adult is
a parent they will want to be aware of possible threats and dangers to protect their children
as much as they can. This is only for specific things such as; Behind Bars: Paedophilia.
• I chose to produce the documentary on either BBC2 or Channel 4 after 9pm on a Friday
night. I chose to broadcast on one of these two channels because it will be able to capture a
wider audience and the age groups stated above. I decided to air it after the watershed as it
shows crimes committed, such as a victim being attacked and then having their car robbed.
It is eligible to be shown after the watershed as the audience know that it is past 9pm and
TV is no longer very PG, in terms of the language shown and the images/crime committing
videos shown also.