Sub-genres of TV Dramas

Teen Drama

- Gossip Girl
•The gossip girl characters are all of a higher class. This is obvious due to the areas that they live in, the fancy designer clothing that they wear and the huge penthouse apartments that they live in. part of the drama is about their thrilling love life and how they all find love. The region that the main characters come from is supposedly the ‘it place’ to live. Their connection to this place are a part of their identity and is what makes their lives so envious. As the characters ages are set as the same age as the target audience it makes the audience a part of the TV drama as they go through the same emotions and transitions. The gender of the cast plays a big part in the representation as they are both equally shown as powerful. For instance Blair Wooldorf and Chuck Bass compete for power and both achieve it. Showing how a women can do anything as well as a man.
 

Period/Costume Drama

- Downton Abbey

• This TV drama is set between 1912 and 1925, portraying the upper classes way of life. During this era homosexuality would have been seen as a disgrace therefore all of the characters are seen as straight. Much like the modern show Gossip girl, where you come from plays a big part in your place in society. If you come from a regal family and have a large estate you will gain more respect within your society. The age varies with the characters as it is based around a family concept, therefore, has each generation. Women in those times had little rights and where thought of as bellow men and this is portrayed in the show.  

Police/Crime Drama

- Newtricks
• The characters in Newtricks are the working class, it follows their job and the way they go about policing. The main characters are three retired police officers and a women governor who keeps them all in check. This is a good representation of women in power as it shows how she has authority over the men even though she is outnumbered by them, they still have respect for her. Although it is not a disability Sandra (the governor) has a burn on her arm from a child hood injury. She openly has it on show in the episodes giving views with similar defects that they should have the confidence to not be a shamed of them. As mentioned before the main character are retired police officers, attracting the older audience as they can relate to the feeling of having to keep yourself busy after retirement.

Medical/Hospital Drama

- Holby City
• As it is in a work environment such as a hospital there is always something happening. Not one day is the same and it makes it easy for the producers to hire and fire the cast. Due to this the variety a variety of classes are shown as there are working class, that work there, and the other patients that attend the hospital. At hospitals there are many different illnesses that they can encorperate into the story line. This means they can adapt disabilities and illnesses to gain a connection to the audience and the problems that they might be going through. Male doctors and female doctors, male nurses and female nurses are all shown to show versatility between the types of jobs everyone is now able to do.