TV Listing Notes

I have been looking into other TV shows that air on the networks set out by the brief. The following contains my findings. 


I looked at 5 fictional and 5 factual programmes from each station, taking into account their timings, genres and role in fulfilling the station's respective remits.

Show synopses:

ITV:
  • Coronation Street - Soap Opera - The UK's longest-running television soap, Coronation Street focuses on the everyday lives of working class people in Manchester, England.
  • Lethal Weapon - Action Crime Drama - A slightly unhinged cop is partnered with a veteran detective trying to maintain a low stress level in his life.
  • Emmerdale - Soap Opera - A soap opera set in a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales.
  • Innocent - Crime Drama - David Collins fights to rebuild his shattered life, when, after spending seven years in a high-security prison, his conviction for the murder of his wife is overturned.
  • Endeavour - Crime Drama - Set in the 1960s, the show follows Endeavour Morse in his early years as a police constable. Working alongside his senior partner DI Fred Thursday, Morse engages in a number of investigations around Oxford.
  • Britain's Got Talent - Talent Show - A variety of acts perform in front of a live audience and a panel of judges, for a chance to win £250,000 and to perform at the Royal variety.
  • Live International Football - Sports - [self-explanatory]
  • ITV News - News - [self-explanatory]
  • Loose Women - Chat Show - Lively daytime TV show, in which four "loose women" chat about news, issues and life in general.
  • Countrywise - Documentary - Paul Heiney explores Britain's countryside and meets the people who make it special.

Channel 5:
  • Home and Away - Soap Opera - "Home and Away" chronicles the lives, loves, happiness and heart-breaks of the residents of Summer Bay, a small coastal town in New South Wales, Australia.
  • Agatha Christie's Crooked House - Crime Drama - Murder mystery based on the Agatha Christie classic.
  • Neighbours - Soap Opera - Australian soap opera exploring the lives and relationships of the residents of Ramsay Street in Erinsborough.
  • [insert]
  • [insert]

  • The Gadget Show - Tech Show - The Gadget show aims to focus on the latest upcoming gadgets, games and more.
  • Shop Smart: Save Money - Fiona Phillips and Gaby Roslin offer guidance on finding great deals and offers, with tips, tricks and challenges to make sure British shoppers are getting the very best value for money.
  • The Unstoppable Flying Scotsman - History Documentary - Engineer Rob Bell presents a two-part documentary examining the fascinating life story of the world-famous steam locomotive.
  • Queen Victoria and her Tragic Family - History Documentary - Documentary series charting the story of Queen Victoria after the death of her beloved husband Albert in 1861, examining how one-by-one her children rebelled against her and the family were touched by tragedy.
  • Greatest Ever - Clip Show - Hosted by comedian Amanda Seales, Greatest Ever is a fast-paced, informative and fun pop-culture comedy countdown show that takes viewers through the "do's" and "don'ts" of topics like weddings, animal videos, sports, politicians and awesomely, unintentionally funny inventions, infomercials and products.

My Findings:

Having looked into the scheduling of both ITV and Channel 5, I have decided that my own production will be created with ITV in mind. This is because I am going to be making a fictional show, but not a soap, and, while ITV is also swamped with soap operas, Channel 5's dramas seem to be exclusively soaps and films, at least for the week at which I chose to look. 

Further research led me to discover that Channel 5 does air dramas, some of which are even homegrown, but from what I have found, paired with the previously established reputation I had already created for Channel 5, the channel is mostly reputed for its soaps, with regard to the fictional world. Indeed, none of the dramas it has shown have been particularly memorable; while it airs known American fictional shows on its channel 5USA, such as NCIS and The X-Files, it's British dramas on Channel 5 rarely make an impact. 

ITV is similarly reputed for its soap operas, namely Emmerdale and Coronation Street, but nowadays, it does also have a reputation for tonally dark crime dramas such as Broadchurch and Innocent. ITV was also the home of procedural crime shows like Inspector Morse, Midsomer Murders, The Bill, and Foyle's War, all of which are now staples of British crime TV. Outside of crime, shows like Cold Feet and the more recent Victoria have featured prominently in prime time, and successfully competed with BBC shows.

All of this information led me to the simple conclusion that, if I wanted to produce a fictional product, then the better channel out of the two given in the project brief would be ITV. With this in mind, my next step is to research deeper into ITV, my findings of which will be the contents of my next blog post. 





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