Introduction to TV drama

TV Drama now competes with film – Long  form? 

Can we build 3-dimensional characters. (anti-heroes) - strong independent females 

 LFTVD Has high production values. I.E. One episode can be around $1-3 Million 

Viewing Methods 

• Terrestrial – BBC 1,2  / ITV / C4 / C5 
• Streaming- Netflix
• Sky Digital / Virgin Media / HBO etc. 

State of the Nation  

• Terrorism 
• Greed 
• Politics / Corruption 
• Crime 
• What's going on? 
• Cultural Zeitgeist 

Memes 

• Funny user-generated content 

 

Ingredients and Conventions of Long Form TV Drama 

• Various Locations Featured 
• Stock Characters – Persistently following, we're going to spend lots of time with them 
• Multiple narratives – Many different sides to the story at the same time 
• 1-hour long 
• Released whole thing at a time (Binge watching) 
• Very dramatic cliff-hanger endings 
• High Production Values