CUFFS: MEDIA REPRESENTATIONS & CONTEXTS

OCR have told us that the unseen extract will be from The Avengers this summer but that the focus for CUFFS will be on media representations and media contexts.
 OCR pdf guide to Television : Industry and Audience here

pdf here 

• The BBC wanted a programme to replace Waterloo Road, a social realist serial drama set in a school with an ensemble cast. Cuffs is a police drama / police procedural with an ensemble cast
  
• Television series with ensemble casts, such as Cuffs, offer audiences a team, or substitute family, towards whom they can adopt a ‘mother’ role – forgiving the characters’ weaknesses, admiring their achievements, and hoping for the best for them.  
• The cast reflects the social and historical contexts of the time: changes in social and cultural contexts mean that television audiences expect diverse representations in their television programmes. In multicultural and post-feminist Britain it would seem unusual to have a solely white male ensemble cast.  There are representations of strong women in positions of responsibility like Jo and Donna.
  
• The presence of Jake, a gay character who is not defined by his sexuality, in Cuffs reflects the BBC’s assumption that audiences would not find this representation unsettling. Simon Reddington, a lawyer and duty solicitor, embarks on a relationship with Jake.
  
• The role of Ryan as the trusted mentor of Chief Superintendent Vickers' son positions him as both the team leader and cornerstone of the force. Both Ryan and PC Misha Baig, a young female Muslim police officer, reflect the diversity of ethnicities in modern-day Brighton.
• The slot – 8pm Wednesday – was pre-watershed prime time, so required family-friendly mass entertainment. 

  The show offers comedy, suspense and action, some elements of spectacle and attractive actors.

  Television series with ensemble casts, such as Cuffs, do not offer simple hero and villain roles that enable identification with role models. However, audiences might identify with the values celebrated by the programme, such as public order, professional teamwork, comradeship, and dedication to duty in the face of public indifference, or might choose favourites as role models from among the ensemble cast. 

  WHAT KINDS OF EXAM QUESTIONS? This summer, look for the terms representation and contexts. Here are some exam questions on the class blog.
  

  Usually, we also need to prepare for media language (mise-en-scene, camerawork, sound and editing) and industry / audiences.