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fulfilling of the personal relationships and diversion aspects of Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratifications theory (1974).
Some key questions Clearly documentaries, like every
other genre, have developed to keep pace with changing audience trends and this has involved ‘borrowing’ from fiction, particularly narrative techniques, structures and characterisation, leading many to question whether entertainment values are being pursued over content. This is
certainly one way of looking at contemporary documentaries; but you may also want to consider the following:
• Does a factual programme have to be formal and authoritarian in order to be informative?
• Does it have to be presented by a middle- aged professor or ‘expert’ in order to have credibility?
• Can any documentary ever really provide us with an unbiased ‘truth’?
I would argue no to all of the above.
in 2009 Ross Kemp on Pirates investigated the problem of piracy in South East Asia and Africa. Kemp claims that: the BBC don’t commission me. But I’m lucky I do have somebody who listens [Sky]. And I hope it’s a populist take Popular is the key word here; in the fiercely
contested world of multichannel ratings Kemp scores highly with Pirates attracting a 0.7 million audience in its well-established 9pm slot. These programmes also seem to hold considerable appeal to a young male demographic, (53% of this audience was male and 30% aged 16-34). Like the Ross Kemp on… series, Danny Dyer’s
Deadliest Men is another attempt to draw on the star persona of an actor, also known for playing ‘hard men’. The appeal of Dyer to young working-class males is considerable. His ‘wide boy’ image and use of cockney rhyming slang are used as a unique selling point; his film career (The Football Factory, The Business, Adulthood) reinforces this secondary persona and as a result has made Dyer a lucrative brand. Dyer’s first programme The Real Football Factories was described by Bravo’s controller, Dave Clarke, as ‘a photofit ideal’ for the channel. More recently in the Deadliest Men series, Dyer lives with ‘dangerous’ men learning about their life and criminal pasts. Now in series two, the programme continues to be a ratings winner for Bravo with a strong emphasis on entertainment values and the
english and media centre | December 2009 | MediaMagazine 13
Furthermore, I would suggest the subject matter explored in the documentaries I have discussed is both contemporary and relevant to its audience. At their core they share a commitment to raise awareness of socially challenging issues (poverty, gang crime, globalisation) and openly seek to challenge opinions. Yes, there is ‘the creative treatment of actuality’ with a sharper edge than perhaps Grierson had envisaged, but he was
not a broadcaster struggling to compete for an audience amongst hundreds of channels. And let’s face it, who really wants to watch a documentary about a Royal Mail overnight delivery service? ... I’d settle for Ross Kemp every time.
Carly Sandy teaches Media Studies at Palmers College, Essex.
References
Broadcast magazine – 19/6/2009, source of all ratings and statistics cited in the article.
Broadcast magazine – 30/11/2007 ‘Fighting for young male viewers’, discussion of Bravo.
The Observer – 24/05/2009 ‘The Other Side of Ross Kemp’, interview http://www.
broadcastnow.co.uk/news/multi-platform/ news/channel-report-has-nickelodeon-met- its-match/
1139193.article – discussion of Nickelodeon audience.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/ entertainment/
7005061.stm – news item discussing the rebranding of UK G2 to ‘Dave’.
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