Introduction.

‘All crime dramas have the same genre conventions, regardless of other factors'. To what extent is this true in relation to the Danish crime drama 'The Killing' and British crime drama 'Broadchurch'?

Crime drama is an extremely popular genre in today’s contemporary media. Producers of this genre have created hundreds of texts that have been very successful both in television and film. In this investigation I will research the specific genre conventions found within crime drama texts and analyse whether other factors may affect certain features. To do this I have chosen two contrasting crime drama texts. The first being Danish crime drama ‘Forbrydelsen’ translated as ‘The Killing’, broadcast on Danish national TV channel DR1 and four years later in Britain on BBC4. My second text is British crime drama ‘Broadchurch’ which broadcast on ITV.

I have three aims for my investigation, which are as follows:

·         To analyse whether my chosen texts have typical crime drama conventions, and if not how do they differ.

·         To investigate which narrative and audience theories can be applied to crime drama genres.

·         To discuss the similarities and differences between my two texts relating to the representation of female protagonists in crime dramas.

To achieve these aims I will, respectively:

·         Research typical crime drama conventions with relation to character types, narrative structure, setting and technical codes. I will study my two texts closely and analyse which conventions do and do not appear, and if they differ in any way. Some conventions may feature in my texts but only to a certain extent. I will take into account whether the different regions affect conventions and if there are similar or different techniques used between the Danish and British production of crime drama.

·         Use a prior knowledge of narrative and audience theories when viewing my texts and attempt to apply some, or all, of them to my chosen crime dramas. I predict many narrative and audience theories will appear within the crime drama genre; especially the Enigma Code by Roland Barthes to generate interest and suspicion and also the Uses and Gratifications theory by Jay Blulmer and Elihu Katz through the use of an ensemble cast. I will conduct primary research, predominantly from viewing figures statistics, to discover the type of audience my texts appeal to.

·         Apply the theories of female representation to the protagonists of my texts. Detective Inspector Sarah Lund, portrayed by Sofie Gråbøl in The Killing and Detective Sergeant Ellie Miller, portrayed by Olivia Colman in Broadchurch are both strong, female leads in my chosen crime dramas and I will investigate the representation of these two women and whether it is positive or negative. The Male Gaze theory by Laura Mulvey will assist me in this analysis.

Series crime dramas’ conventions can include, a non-linear structure that features flashbacks and recounting, often to reveal a big secret, and low-key lighting to create the feeling of gloom and fear. There are always prominent character types in crime dramas and they make up the iconography of the text. There is usually police officers with different levels of qualification and power, a grieving family of the victim after the crime has occurred and the criminal. Setting forms one of the conventions and often sets the mood for the scene, for example in a police station, laboratory or back alley.

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