This document provides an overview of a media studies course on TV drama. It discusses the different genres of TV drama, including crime drama, medical drama, soap operas, and more. Students are tasked with identifying various sub-genres of TV drama and conventions like settings, characters, and narrative structures that are common across genres. The document also provides exercises for students to analyze openings sequences and consider iconic elements of specific TV drama series.

1. AS Media Studies
TV Drama

2. Overview of course
G321 Foundation Production
G321 Foundation Production
• 50% coursework
• 50% Exam
• Details on handout.
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3. TV DRAMA
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4. Learning Objectives.
• To know how TV drama is classified
• To understand the conventions of different
TV drama genres
• To be able to identify and suggest key
characteristics for the many different
dramas seen on TV
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5. What is TV Drama?
• What is TV drama? A broad genre - at is simplest, it is
fictionalised action in a narrative form
• Hugely popular – wide ranging audience
• Very large genre – divided into sub-genres, such as
crime drama, medical drama, docu-drama.
• What does genre mean? ‘Type’ - repetition and 5
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variation.

6. Task.
• How many different sub-genres are there of TV drama?
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7. Sub genres of TV drama
• Crime drama - The Bill, Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes
• Teen drama - Skins, Inbetweeners
• School drama
• Soap opera
• Family drama - My Family, Smallville
• Medical drama Casualty, Holby City
• Legal drama
• Espionage drama
• Period drama / costume drama
• Childrens drama
• Sci fi dramas – Dr Who, Heroes, Torchwood
• Historical adventures 7
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8. What’s the sub genre of TV drama
are these in?
• Holby City
• Eastenders
• Waterloo road
• Casualty
• Skins
• Coronation St
• Spooks
• Silent Witness
• Shameless

9. Task
• In pairs, each person must think of a well
known TV drama series.
• Think of several facts (conventions) about
the TV drama and give them one by one to
your partner as clues, starting with the most
difficult.
• Your partner has to try and guess the drama
with the least amount of clues.
• Think about camerawork, dialogue, setting
(dont make this too easy!), characters, plot,

10. Group task
• Setting is important in a TV drama as its
often the focal point for all the characters
and its important in establishing a sense
of a real place where a story can exists.
• Often TV dramas are set in a domestic
location or a workplace. Many regional
features may well appear – landmarks,
local accent, dress and customs.
• What settings are used in the TV dramas
you like?

11. Conventions of TV dramas
• Characters - in single dramas small number of main
characters supported by lesser characters based on
stereotypes
• Narrative - both overall structure and how it’s
constructed
• Sets and setting - locations against which the story
unfolds and which are significant eg hospital, police
station
• Camerawork and editing- particular camerawork is
used for particular sub genres eg crime dramas and
period dramas
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12. Conventions of TV dramas
• Dialogue, sound and music - sound and
music create effects and emotion.
Narrative is dialogue based in soaps.
Music drives emotional or dramatic
events.
• Themes and icons - tend to be associated
with particular sub genres eg. the soap
opera’s pub or square - recognisable
every day objects. In crime series - crime
icons.In the single drama varied but often
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13. • ANDY - I ONLY GOT THIS FAR IN
THURSDAY’S LESSON!!
• But did give out your sheet on the
Conventions Exercise
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14. The Serial
• Continuing narrative over a limited number
of linked programmes with an over arching
narrative.
• It the much the same cast, such as
Footballers’ Wives, and a cliffhanger at the
end of each episode.
• Closure is only achieved at the end of the
run. Typically made in 13 episodes – a
quarter of a year.
• Examples include State of Play and Rome.
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15. Soaps
• An ongoing, multi-stranded television serial
drama, typically set in an enclosed
domestic location.
• Such as Albert Square in Eastenders,
Coronation Street, or Emmerdale, with a
large cast of central characters and arching
story lines.
• The soap is an everlasting serial. 15
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16. The Series
• Linked programmes with the same lead
characters where each episode is a
complete story Spooks (BBC), House (C5)
or The Bill (ITV), Heartbeat (ITV) or
Midsummer Murders, Agatha Christie’s
Poirot (ITV) Casualty (BBC) and Dr Who
(BBC) or US series like Superman.
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17. Opening sequences
• Watch this opening sequence to a TV
drama.
• Think about the conventions in each
drama series.
• Waterloo Rd - Maxine Gets Shot

18. Model 1: Waterloo Rd
What is typical of each sub-genre?
What is typical of each sub-genre?
• What impressions do you get from the
sequence?
• What themes are in the storyline?
• What type of camera shots do you notice?
• Sound?
• Costume?
• What type of characters feature?
• What iconography is there?

19. Homework.
• With detailed reference to a drama of your
choice, discuss the degree to which it
adheres to generic convention.
• Analyse plot, characters, setting, dialogue
and music, icons
• 600 words
• Due in:
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