This document provides discussion questions and context about crime drama television shows. It examines how shows like The Sweeney from the 1970s and Luther portray different time periods and societies through their representations of issues like gender, police work, and diversity. Audience theory is also discussed, with examples of how viewers may watch crime dramas for entertainment, social reasons, or to fulfill needs around information, identity, and social integration.

1. CRIME DRAMA: CONTEXT

2. TO COME…
• How has sound been used in this scene to create meaning?
• How does this extract represent a version of reality?
• How do crime drama represent the concerns of the time in which
they are made?
• How do production processes influence crime drama?
• How might media regulation impact crime drama programmes?
• How might different audiences use crime drama to fulfil their needs?
• How might different audiences respond to crime drama

3. IN YOUR BOOK
• Write these questions across 2 pages in your book.
• 1. How does the episode construct representations of
London today?
• 2. How are the police represented in contemporary
society? Think about the way Luther behaves.
• 3. How are issues of race and diversity in the police
force represented?
• 4. How are women represented in the episode?

5. IN YOUR BOOK
• 1. What indicators can you see that tell you this is
the 1970s?
• 2. How is London in the 1970s represented?
• 3. How are the police represented?
• 3. How are the gender values of the 1970s
represented? Think about the roles men and
women play.

6. THE SWEENEY (1974-1978)
• The Flying Squad =
Serious and Organised
Crime
• Set in London

9. THE SWEENEY
• The Sweeney reflects 1970s culture and social context through the visual
conventions of the mise-en-scène (the vehicles, including Regan’s iconic
Ford Consul Granada, the costumes, the areas of social deprivation in
London).
• The Sweeney represents the police as violent and willing to bend or break
the rules in order to gain a conviction. This reflects policing in the 1970s,
exemplified by the investigation and conviction of real-life police Flying
Squad detectives for bribery and corruption.
• The Sweeney reflects 1970s values in relation to gender, especially gender
roles in the workplace – the Flying Squad is male-dominated, patriarchal
and characterised by a stereotypically macho culture of drinking,
violence etc. This reflects gender roles within society at the time, particularly
within the police force where women in the UK police force had a different
rank structure to men.

10. LUTHER
• Luther reflects contemporary London culture through the use of media language – shots of the
London skyline, sleek office buildings, period town houses etc. represent the city as a prosperous
and diverse place.
• Luther reflects contemporary attitudes to policing and constructs both positive and negative
representations – Luther is a maverick who is brilliant at solving crimes, but breaks protocol in
the way he deals with suspects e.g. threatening Alice and breaking into her flat. His boss is
extremely logical and insists that proper procedure is followed, reflecting the institution of the
police and balancing Luther’s more extreme approach.
• Luther reflects the diversity of contemporary British society in the representation of Luther as a
high-ranking black police officer, communicating a message of racial equality.
• Luther reflects some degree of gender equality in contemporary society in the representations
of strong, powerful females (Luther’s boss is female, his wife Zoe is a successful lawyer, Alice is a
prodigiously intelligent astrophysicist). However, these females are not all represented positively
or as being totally independent – Alice is a narcissistic murderer and Luther’s boss has a
patriarchal male superior for example.

11. AUDIENCE THEORY:
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS
•Why do
people watch
Luther?

12. PERSONAL IDENTITY
• Finding reinforcement for
personal values – identifying
with certain characters and
their behaviours
• Finding models of
behaviour – roles models
• Gaining insight into your
own personality

13. INFORMATION
• Finding out about relevant
events in your surroundings,
society, and the world -
surveillance
• Satisfying curiosity and
general interest
• Learning – self-education
gaining a sense of security
through knowledge

14. ENTERTAINMENT
• Escaping or being diverted
from your problems -
diversion
• Relaxing
• Enjoyment
• Filling time
• Emotional release

15. SOCIAL INTEGRATION
• Gaining insight into others
lives
• Gaining a sense of belonging
to a group – personal
relationships
• Finding basis for conversation
and social interaction
• Having a substitute for a real
life companion
• Connecting with family,
friends, society

17. SOME ANSWERS
• Entertainment (diversion): crime dramas are constructed to contain multiple enigmas and working to
solve these helps audiences get away from their everyday problems
• Entertainment (diversion): The conventional ‘whodunnit’ / ‘howdunnit’ narratives of crime dramas
encourage audiences to identify with the hero detectives and pleasure is generated for audiences who
‘solve’ the text’s central enigmas before the hero does
• Information (surveillance): Luther gives the audience information on how a modern detective might
operate, the types of crimes they might have to solve and the effects the job might have on detectives
themselves
• Social interaction (personal relationships): Luther can be seen as a ‘water cooler’ programme –
audiences are likely to have discussed narrative arcs, enigmas, twists etc. with friends, family,
colleagues and online via social media
• Personal identity: Luther offers the conventional ‘flawed hero’ and more diversity in terms of strong
female characters like Alice, reflecting changing gender roles in society and allowing audiences to
connect with the central characters.