1. Key Features of
Television Dramas
Chloe Ward

2. Key Genres
O Soap
O Youth
O Fantasy
O Issue Based
O Crime
O Medical

3. Soap Operas
O “Never-ending” story lines, which resists coming to a
narrative closure. Multiple cliff hangers act as narrative
devices to keep audiences interested.
O Multiple plots and characters, more characters that
feature frequently than usual dramas; whole families for
instance. The plots tend to be interwoven and
throughout the show tends to switch between plots
continuously.
O Morality is a big theme in some soaps, where we are
invited to make moral judgements about them, relating
to difficult issues such as
depression, abortion and abuse. Storylines
typically revolve around personal and family
relationships.

4. Soap Operas II
O Social and domestic settings, such as homes, hotels,
pubs and cafes. This gives potential for unlimited
storylines.
O Strong female characters are often included, where they
are shown as relatively powerful in their professional
and domestic settings, in order to relate more to a
female audience. Men tend to be portrayed as weaker
and more sensitive than in traditional drama.
O Simplified characters are key for
easy recognition, and make it easy
for an audience to feel a basic level
of empathy for them. However, there
can sometimes be stereotypes.

5. Soap Operas III
O Constant illusion of real time, where events happen in
the soap at the same time as in real life, for instance
Christmas. The scenes also do not skip time and each
episode will typically focus on 25 minutes of real time.
O Two shots and over the shoulder shots – 90% of the
content in a soap is conversations and hence these are
a very
important type of shot.
O Symbolic costumes and set
designs – depending on the
issues explored in the soap.
For instance, very British
soaps like Eastenders have
traditional décor.

6. Youth Drama
These tend to focus on issues that affect youths, such
as sexuality, body image, and crime. There are a few
common features in most youth dramas.
O Social issues of concern are prevalent and episodes
can revolve around one or many of these. This allows
the young audience to relate more to the characters
on screen due to a “representational range of
recognisable character types”.
O Stereotypes of teenagers are also
a common feature. The young
audience can relate to these
easier, and as a result find them
more entertaining and interesting.

7. Youth Drama II
O One of the typical settings in youth dramas is in
a school – this is something which the audience
should be able to relate to and hence will
probably be able to identify with the issues in
the programme on a greater level.
O Domestic issues and their impact on youths are
also explored; for instance divorce and domestic
violence. This helps the audience to understand
that these are not uncommon and can help
some with
their own understanding and how
they deal with these issues in their
own lives.

8. Hospital Drama
Due to the widespread nature of the issues dealt with in
the narrative of this type of drama, they tend to have a very
wide audience.
O Having a wide range of characters means that these
“offer different versions of a number of occupational
roles and ideas about the public”. These roles include a
variety of hospital staff such as consultants and porters,
as well as a wide selection of the public, such as
children and religious groups.
O Hospital and clinical settings are
obviously key in a hospital drama
and consequently they must be
realistic and be set up in a highly
detailed manner.

9. Hospital Drama II
O There tends to be an illusion of real time in order to
create a sense of panic and heightens the tension of
the show. Similarly to soap operas, this makes it
seem as though multiple things are going on at once,
yet allows for different storylines to be shot on
different days.
O Often there are social and domestic settings, which is
usually where the show will start, at the scene of an
impending accident. This means that there is no limit
to the number of potential story-lines.
O Hospital dramas usually focus on
some issues of morality, allowing
the audience to make a judgment
on the characters from this.

10. Crime Drama
Crime dramas have a widespread audience, mainly due to
the variety of settings and storylines available across
shows.
O Murder and serial-killing is a feature in lots of crime
dramas because it means that there is an extended
period of tension building up. It changes between from
show to show, dependent on which part of law
enforcement the show focuses on; for example forensic
science or detective work.
O Numerous sub-plots are common in long running
dramas because these sustain the
audience’s interest due to the
development of relationships
between key characters.

11. Crime Drama II
O Investigations are vital to most crime dramas
because it creates mystery and often closure to
series. It constantly leaves the audience in suspense
and can get them involved in guessing “whodunnit”.
O It’s common for crime dramas to only have a select
range of characters as it can be hard to follow them
in such an already complex narrative.
O Gender representation can break gender scripts in
having strong female detectives, which represents
strong females in a typically male environment. This
dynamic often makes the show
more interesting.

12. Fantasy Drama
O Mythical creatures are very common in fantasy
drama and the entire show tends to revolve around
these. This entice an audience due to the way in
which they capture one’s imagination. These
creatures can include dragons and aliens.
O Magic and or witchcraft is often used in the narrative
of these dramas. These help the audience immerse
themselves in an alternate reality.
O Good versus evil is a theme
commonly explored by fantasy
dramas – for instance, who
chooses to abuse their powers
and who chooses to use them
for the good of others?

13. Fantasy Drama II
O These dramas tend to be set in different eras, such
as medieval times, the future, or even modern times.
This can often help the audience immerse
themselves in the world on a deeper level.
O Superhumans tend to feature in more modern
dramas, such as Heroes. These can intrigue viewers
because they give
them a hope of one day achieving this, no matter how
unrealistic that
may be, which will more than
likely keep them watching the
show.

14. Issue Based
Issue based dramas cover a large range of topics and
genres, and can attract different audiences.
O There is more often than not controversy in these
dramas, due to the fact that they tackle difficult
issues which cover questions of ethics and morality.
O Political issues are often explored by issue based
dramas because they can attract a more adult
audience.
O Youth issues similar to those in
youth dramas can also be looked at,
such as alcohol abuse, relationships
and teen pregnancy.

15. Issue Based II
O Social class divisions are often prevalent. This is
because of the fact that the audience is most
likely going to be a varied one in terms of wealth,
and hence some dramas choose to represent
class divisions in different ways.
O In these, there tends to be different kinds of
gender representation, but due to the
predominantly gritty nature, there is often
inequality shown and male dominance.
O Stereotypical characters can
help to portray people in
society well, if they are a
main character or not.

16. Bibliography
O http://www.godnose.co.uk/downloads/alev
el/genre/features%20of%20soap%20opera
%20.pdf
O OCR Media Studies for AS Textbook
Images from various sources on the internet.