Spooks: Narrative in TV Drama

STANDARD NARRATIVE CONVENTIONS

Beginning, Middle and End

A couple wake up and go downstairs to eat breakfast. They do not realise that they are being watched by terrorists. The woman Fiona and her partner Danny, who both work for the MI5, get kidnapped by the terrorists. The terrorists demand that the Prime Minister must annouce he will remove troops from Iraq. Danny ends up getting shot and in the meantime the MI5 work out that taking their agents hostage was simply a ploy to distract them from their real aim; to kill the Prime Minister. In the end, Fiona's husband Adam saves her and the Prime Minister while the terrorist holding Fiona captive is shot.

Characters - Good/Bad

The audience is usually able to identify the good characters and the bad characters quickly when watching a TV drama. This is because the director chooses to present a character as either good or bad in different ways so that the audience will see that character a certain way. These different ways include the following:

• costume
• body language
• camerawork
• editing

In Spooks, at the very beginning this is done in many ways including camerawork. We are let into Adam and Fiona's world and feel as if we know them well in the first few minutes as we already know so much about them through MCUs and MSs. However, with the terrorists seated in the car outside we are unable to se their faces and some of the shots are made to look obscure to make their identities even more ambiguous. We only see parts of their faces at a time such as their eyes or their lips and even though these are CUs we feel distanced from them. The director gives us little pieces of information at a time about the terrorists whereas from the first shot of Fiona we are able to see her gender, race, class and are given information about her lifestyle as well as Adam's.

Happy ending

At the end of this episiode of Spooks, Fiona is rescued after the female terrorist caves in and tells Adam where she is being held captive. Tension is heightened as petrol is being poured over Fiona by the terrorist. She begins to get hysterical and the audience is put on the edge of their seat. At the very last minute, just as the terrorist is about to burn Fiona alive, something smashes against the window. Then men come in and shoot the terrorist. Fiona is rescued and runs outside to meet Adam. They hug each other and the episode finishes on this image, which is essentially a happy ending.

Most stories end happily because they follow the narrative pattern of equilibrium-disruption-equilibrium. Audiences naturally prefer there to be a happy ending as it has more of a positive feel and leaves the audience feeling satisfied and not distressed. TV contains an element of escapism as audiences often watch TV to escape from their lives for a while. Therefore, audiences would want a happy ending as they want to feel happier after watching a TV drama.

Beginning

A standard way of beginning a narrative story is what starts as an ordinary, everyday morning suddenly being threatened. This follows the narrative structure used often which begins with an equilibrium but then there is a disruption. The disruption is then usually resolved and then the narrative returns to an equilibrium.

In Spooks, the day begins at an equilibrium as an average normal day. Adam and Fiona wake-up and start this day just as they would any other. Fiona makes coffee and toast for breakfast and Adam is getting dressed for work when he enters the kitchen. We then see them both leave dressed smartly for work.

Audience involvement

This is done through the danger that is set up. The audience is encouraged to take sides through binary opposition. Some character is identified as evil with traits that suggest this and some characters are identified as good. In Spooks this is set-up at the beginning through thew use of colour in mise-en-scene. The walls and background in the couple's house are clean and white, a colour we associate with goodness. We are able to see them with clarity and each of the shots show us their actions and tells us about their relationship, making us feel as if we know them intimately and allows us into their everday life. The terrorists, on the otherhand, are sitting in a black car with darker surroundings instantly making the audience view them as a threat and as evil. Their identity remains hidden and ambigous so the audience is made to see them as a threat and will be less inclined to like them. They are still and tense, not giving much away, making the audience unable to relate to them and therefore distanced from them.