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28 Nov 2022 | TEL250 Blue Skies | Written Assignment | 2570 words
Part One: Looking at Channel 4's Derry Girls
Derry Girls is a British sitcom that ran for three series on Channel 4, between 2018 and 2022. Set in the 1990s, the series primarily focuses on a group of Northern Irish schoolgirls living in Derry during the thirty year ethno-nationalist conflict known as ‘The Troubles’ (Imperial War Museum 2022).
The concept for Derry Girls came about after Northern Irish writer Lisa McGee was approached for other works after her first Channel 4 sitcom London Irish (2013) was dropped due to low viewing figures (Rigby 2015). McGee had experienced The Troubles first hand and felt as though the films and programmes she had seen did not depict the conflict in the same way she remembered. In an interview for The New Yorker, McGee said the period is never portrayed with any humour and articulated she doesn’t know ‘any Northern Irish person that isn’t funny’ (Russell 2022).
Each episode focuses on protagonist 16-year-old Erin and her friends, each with their distinct personalities. The script offers some dry, domesticated humour despite being set during a civil war. For instance, the pilot episode has a scene where Aunt Sarah expresses her concern of a nearby bomb threat making her late for a tanning appointment. The sitcom lightly follows a storyline but each episode has a self-contained story. Although the script and characters are entirely fictional, the series frequently references real-life events such as Bill Clinton’s 1995 visit to Northern Ireland and the Good Friday referendum of 1998. Lisa McGee also included events based on her own real life, such as writing a letter to Bill Clinton’s daughter.
Prior to the first series’ broadcast, Channel 4 began showing trailers and clips of the show between its regular programming and sponsored advertisements. The trailer included clips that depicted the trouble-ridden city, yet flaunted the characters’ ‘charm and humour’ (Channel 4 2018) and also featured music by well-known Irish rock band The Cranberries. This first series of Derry Girls was a triumph with high ratings. After the series one finale aired in February 2018, consolidated viewing figures (including ‘time-shifted’ viewing) showed that an average of 2.5 million viewers watched the first series. This placed Derry Girls in the top five most watched programmes on Channel 4 every week it aired (Broadcasters' Audience Research Board 2018). Due to the sitcom’s successful reception, the series was renewed for a second series in 2018, and then a third (and final) series in 2019. The originality of new Irish series may have contributed to Derry Girls achieving status of the most watched television programme in Northern Ireland since 2002, when modern records began (Belfast Telegraph 2018). It has also been said to be Channel 4’s most successful comedy since Father Ted (1995-98). The programme’s weekly time slot was also adjusted over the three series. The first series aired at 10pm with the second and third series’ being moved forward to 9pm or 9:15pm, depending on other scheduling. Due to the dialogue using strong language, the programme could only be aired past 9pm - after the watershed. The average number of viewers did increase after this change, which shows that an earlier time slot can be quite effective in drawing in more viewers.
As Derry Girls was initially only broadcast on Channel 4, it is clear that its first audience came primarily from advertising on television and from social media accounts releasing short clips of the series online. As of November 2022, the IMDb
page for Derry Girls shows just over 36,000 reviews. A third of these reviews are from viewers aged 30-44; people who are old enough to remember this particular period of conflict first-hand. The second largest age category of reviewers are aged 18-29 (IMDB 2022). This age group are much more likely to have seen the show’s advertising through social media - Channel 4 frequently posted reminders and ‘sneak-peaks’ of upcoming episodes, which perhaps helped to attract more viewers, specifically younger people who are more likely to be using online streaming services rather than watching regular television. After each episode aired, it became available on Channel 4’s own online free streaming platform, All 4, making it just as accessible as other popular online platforms like Netflix. With the main characters being teenagers, this may have also made the series relatable and appealing to young adults.
The title alone may suggest a certain political demographic; the city is officially called Londonderry but due to a long, ongoing dispute between Irish nationalists and unionists, the city is also commonly referred to as Derry (Roos 2021). The characters themselves are Catholic nationalists - one of the very first spoken lines of the series is ‘Derry... or Londonderry, depending on your persuasion’. Despite the sitcom having political undertones, the lighthearted comedic humour of the show has still been enjoyed by viewers of all backgrounds (Jones 2019).
Following the second series, a large mural depicting the main protagonists was painted on the side of a building in Derry. Being a city previously known for having political murals, this particular artwork is considered to be just as significant as any other. The mural’s artist, Karl Porter, has claimed that the mural represents the
peace and unity Derry has embodied since the war. Also, Visit Derry executive, Odhran Dunne states that the same warm, welcoming identity Derry people have is very much reflected through the characters in Derry Girls (McClements 2019).
Shortly after the first series’ success, Derry Girls was acquired by Netflix, which enabled international viewing (Moore 2018). Each series is added to Netflix long after it has been released in the UK so despite the series ending in May 2022 in the UK, there are still online premieres happening across the world. The show now has a significant number of fans in the United States, New Zealand and Pakistan (Belfast Telegraph 2018). Anna Russell of The New Yorker has written that ‘Though the show is meant for an international audience as well as a local one, McGee doesn’t slow the dialogue or offer definitions for slang.’ The script does include certain words and phrases only specific to the place or time, yet this clearly has not deterred foreign viewers. It is very clear that the characters’ ‘charm and humour’ can win over a whole range of people, regardless of location, age and political background.
Part Two: My Proposed TV show: The Secrets of Asgard
My hypothetical programme is a fantasy drama series inspired by Norse mythology; The Secrets of Asgard (abbreviated to TSOA). Niflheim has forever been at war with Muspelheim. Each kingdom is ruled by its own monarch and the citizens of each realm have their own magical powers.The past few centuries have been peaceful, until a rumour circulates that the young prince of Niflheim will declare war again as soon as he becomes king. The fire rulers then assemble a plan to assassinate the prince as they believe the Gods of Asgard will commend them. When the Prince ‘mysteriously’ dies, the King of Niflheim traces back his family to find the person rightfully next in line to the throne. The suitor in question is a quiet young woman in her teens who knows nothing at all about ruling a kingdom. She undertakes battle training and guidance in queenship from her peers, in preparation for her role. Meanwhile, Muspelheim hears of the new princess and how she had been plunged into this new responsibility. The protagonist unknowingly meets the prince of Muspelheim who is initially sent to find out if any of the otherrulers had plans for another war. He decides to also help and coach her and comes to realise that the kingdoms could unite if he were to ever marry her. In a plot twist, the protagonist discovers the rulers of Muspelheim really killed the prince and she wants to find out exactly why.
The ‘BBC Programme Tariff’ outlines the amount of money the BBC would pay for a commission, based on defined features of a programme. The Secrets of Asgard falls into the ‘premium drama’ tier, as the production would involve era-specific costume and creating a set fit for a fantasy realm using physical props as well as computer-generated imagery and visual or special effects. According to the tariff, the BBC would pay anything between £650,000 and £1,000,000 per hour for this series - providing the pitch impresses the panel and convinces them this would become a landmark series, and therefore earn a lot of money back. I envision this programme to have eight 30-minute episodes, particularly for the first series, which could perhaps increase to ten episodes in subsequent series’ if it is successful and the budget increases. A good portion of the budget would go on set, props, costume and visual effects in scenes that involve spells. The sky or general background may also need to be altered to help depict whichever realm the scene is set in. As for the actual locations, I feel the UK has an abundance of great filming locations for this series, specifically castles and ruins or forests - many of which are owned by the National Trust, English Heritage and other conservation charities. Like Kings Cross Station in the Harry Potter franchise (or on a smaller scale, the Derry Girls mural), the filming locations for TSOA could promote tourism.
Although the series is set in ancient Norse realms, the story is set in the present day, meaning the characters will use modern language and the younger characters might even have some forms of modern technology. It is simply a modern story set in an ancient land. I want the characters to be relatable to young adults particularly, who this show is primarily aimed at. Fantasy and magic is currently a popular genre among the younger generation, from the likes of well-loved films like Harry Potter to more recent Netflix shows like The Umbrella Academy and Stranger Things - all of which sell popular merchandise. I feel as though the main themes of the story are identity and justice, as well as some more light-hearted themes woven-in in subplots occurring throughout the series, like love and family. Like Derry Girls, I want this series to include some upbeat humour despite the plot involving a war. As mentioned, the protagonist will be in her late teens, as will other characters which will help the series be appealing to that age group.
With regards to distribution, I feel this series would be most appealing to BBC Three or Netflix. Firstly, I chose BBC Three as the BBC has had successful fantasy programmes in the past but none in the past ten years so I believe a new series of this genre would be refreshing. Merlin (BBC 2008-12) was a fantasy drama that ran for five series. The first series had an average of 6.32 million viewers and this increased to 7.13 million by the fifth series (Broadcasters' Audience Research Board 2018). Additionally, in 2009, NBC purchased the rights and Merlin began airing in the
United States (Holmwood 2008) along with the releases of box sets in the US and Australia. Likewise, American series’ have been brought to England; Supernatural (The WB Television Network 2005-20) for example found international success through online streaming platforms like Amazon Prime and Netflix and has since been made available on ITV’s online platform, ITV Hub for free streaming. BBC Three would be an excellent platform for my series as it would be broadcast live as well as being available online through BBC iPlayer.
An evening slot after the watershed would be the best time to broadcast, as I imagine the script to contain some stronger language and themes. The most popular programmes are usually broadcast in the evening as the majority of audiences will be at home, rather than at work or in their place of education. In the long run, it is always the audience that determines the success of a programme; television programmers create new shows not just based on concepts they find interesting, but also in order to target and appeal to specific demographics (Bignell 2012). The script could alternatively be adapted for children’s television and broadcast during the day on CBBC, as fantasy is also a popular genre among children. As for casting, I would go the full lengths to find new upcoming talent, including those who challenge traditions. Even in a mythical, fictional world, disability should still exist. I want to include not just actors but characters who are relatable to those who are not commonly represented in modern media - characters who are deaf or blind, neurodivergent, member of the LGBT community and so forth. This coincides with the BBC’s Disability Initiative started in their commissioning briefs. Specifically, BBC Three is ‘somewhere writers and creatives should feel able to be at their most playful’ (BBC 2022). I believe the fantasy genre is a great area to be creative and playful; there are no limitations.
Secondly, Netflix would also be a great platform for The Secrets of Asgard. Netflix has become one of the biggest online platforms in the world and has introduced a new level of accessible international distribution; nowadays, there is no need to produce and ship DVDs and box sets. As mentioned, The Umbrella Academy and Stranger Things are popular fantasy series currently streaming on Netflix. Both are ‘Netflix Original’, which means they have been produced or commissioned exclusively for Netflix, unlike other programmes that have been made elsewhere and later had their rights sold to Netflix. These original shows are often high-budget productions that achieve high ratings so this would be a great route into distribution. Pitching to Netflix is more difficult as unsolicited submissions are not accepted and having an agent, attorney or manager is required. However, as Netflix is a worldwide company, they receive a lot of money from people all over the world. On the other hand, the BBC’s funding is sourced mainly from the TV licensing; the UK is a relatively small country so even if every single person paid this fee, it still would not be as much as the money Netflix receive. Having this series produced by Netflix would bring in a much larger income than it would if it was produced by the BBC.
Marketing strategies would also depend on which budget the series has. Assuming The Secrets of Asgard had Netflix’s budget, I would use billboards in busy capital cities, posters on buses, and produce media covering a large-scale premiere event. Just the series being labelled a ‘Netflix Original’ would be enough to draw in a significant number of viewers. As The Secrets of Asgard is a fantasy series, making the audience have enough context to understand the plot is the main concern. It is important to remember that viewers ‘get themselves tooled up with all the information they need to be able to go and enjoy the show’ (Lees 2014). I love the idea of utilising social media as much as possible. This would include advertising on popular
social platforms like Instagram and TikTok, as well as incorporating in-app augmented-reality camera filters like Stranger Things has in the past. For an exclusively online show, advertising on television may not be entirely appropriate. Otherwise, my BBC Three marketing strategy would include showing clips from the series between regular broadcasting and posting these on relative social media accounts. These would mainly depict the magical realms and the protagonist.
Bibliography
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Televisionography:
DERRY GIRLS. Channel 4, 2018 - 2022 [TV Series]. FATHER TED. Channel 4, 1995 - 1998 [TV Series].
LONDON IRISH. Channel 4, 2013 [TV Series].MERLIN, BBC One, 2008 - 2012 [TV Series].
STRANGER THINGS, Netflix, 2016 - present [TV Series]
SUPERNATURAL, The WB Television Network, 2005 - 2020 [TV Series].
THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY, Netflix, 2019 - present [TV Series]
Author: Bethan Radford
Module: TEL250 Blue Skies
Assessment: Written Assignment
Classification: 1st / 70%
Degree: BA (Hons) Television
Submission: 28th November 2022
Words: 2570