Representations in Police / Crime Dramas

1. Representations in Police / Crime Dramas Ashes to Ashes Spooks The Wire

2. Representation • A cultural ‘force’ as it relates to tastes, identity and interests that are shaped by the culture we inhabit. • Related to regulation. People have legal means to respond to representations they consider inaccurate, offensive or harmful OFCOM • Also linked to economic forces. Big budget dramas made in relation to likely audience and future DVD sales. • Increasingly shaped by technology. (players on internet, DVDs etc…) Watched in staggered fashion or at once… Fragmented audience

3. Deconstructing the text • Remember your TV Mats • From Micro to Macro • Analyse micro elements of the text • Conclude from the micro elements a range of macro representations • Consider how different people might respond differently to these representations • Are the representations on the whole positive, negative, challenging conventions, controversial, etc?

4. Police / Crime Dramas • What are the main elements of this genre that you might expect to occur in any programme with this label? • What are the main ingredients that produce various forms of ‘pleasure’ for the viewing audience?

5. Ashes to Ashes • Ashes to Ashes is a British science fiction/police proceduraldramatelevision series, serving as the sequel to Life on Mars. http://www.bbc.co.uk/lifeonmars/ • The series began transmission on BBC One in February 2008. A second series began broadcasting in April 2009. A third and final series is being broadcast from 2 April 2010 on BBC One and BBC HD. • The series tells the fictional story of Alex Drake, a female police officer in service with London's Metropolitan Police who is shot in 2008, and inexplicably regains consciousness in 1981. • The series' first episode reveals that in the present day, Drake has been studying records of the events seen in Life on Mars. Upon waking in the past, she is shocked to meet returning character Gene Hunt, of whom she has learned from her research. Throughout the series, it is ambiguous to both Drake and the audience whether the character is dead or alive in the present day. • BBC WEBSITE: trailers and characters: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ashestoashes/characters/

6. Reception Source: Wikipedia • Based on overnight returns, The Guardian reported that audience figures for the 7 February 2008 broadcast of the first episode, in a 9:00 pm slot on the flagship channel, BBC One, were 7 million: about 29% of viewers. The figure was "in line with the final episode of Life on Mars in April last year, though well up on the earlier show's second series debut of 5.7 million two months earlier," but The Guardian noted "the heavy publicity blitz this week for Ashes to Ashes" as a factor in its success against the opposition. • Critical reception to the first episode of the series was mixed; The Observercriticised the episode's direction, structure and tone (although it did praise the costumes and art direction). The national free sheet, Metro, gave the episode four stars as "a vote of faith" on what it described as "a dodgy start". • The Guardian reported on 15 February 2008 that, with 6.1 million viewers and a 25% audience share, the ratings for the second episode, shown on 14 February, were down by almost one million on the first, comparing overnight returns. The fifth episode, broadcast 6 March 2008, attracted 6.6 million viewers according to overnight returns. With this episode, The Daily Telegraph stated that "Ashes to Ashes stepped out of the shadow of Life on Mars." • Entertainment news website Digital Spy praised the show's return with cult editor Ben Rawson-Jones describing the opening episode of the second series as "greatly promising". It was watched by 7.01 million viewers. • The second series has been nominated for The TV Dagger at the 2009 Crime Thriller Awards. Keeley Hawes and Philip Glenister have received nominations in the Best Actress and Best Actor categories respectively. • The finale of Ashes To Ashes, which finishes in 2010, has been described by Dean Andrews as, 'Genius‘. He explained on GMTV: "Everything is tied up. You get all of the answers from Life On Mars and Ashes To Ashes.‘

7. Episode 1 series 1 • List examples of: • typical characters • typical narratives • typical themes • Iconography (setting, costumes, props) • Practical: Re-creating and editing an extract – introduction of Gene Hunt Character • Then try changing the editing or a number of shots to present Hunt in a slightly different way.