Enigma in TV Crime Dramas

Roland BARTHES is a theorist who looked into narratives (storylines) One conclusion he came to was that all narratives have ENIGMAS. These are puzzles / questions which have to be solved. Typically these are questions that are raised which the audience are encouraged to think about.

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Settings

Settings are a key factor in all crime dramas. The setting of the show depicts on what kind of feeling the audience will have towards the show as a whole, e.g a countryside setting will connotate happiness and peace, while a high crime-rate low class city would make the audience feel intimidated and less relectant to believe that a crime wouldn't be taken there.

Luther as a flawed Anti-Hero.

Throughout the series of Luther, us as an audience develop different views on Luther as a cop and Luther as a good person. For example...

• Left a criminal to die when he had the opetunity to save him.
• Broke into Alice's apartment.
• Fighting with a man (deemed unproffesional)
• Personal over Proffessional.
• Using blackmail in order for Criminals to make a confession.
• Relationship with a serial killer (Alice)
• Goes against procedure regulary.

Set Pieces

Interrogation:

The interrigation of a suspect is one of the main conventions a crime drama  It is extremely important to have atleast one or two interrigations during a crime drama in order for the audience to have an idea about who comitted the crime. It also gives the audience a chance to 'play detective' to see if they spot anything about a suspect before the detective does, which is all part of the 'fun' in watching a crime drama. The people that are interrogated the most often are the closest to the suspect, e.g family and friends.

Initial Crime Scene Investigation:

The crime scene of the murder is also another key convention of a crime drama, as it is where the detectives start finding clues about the murder that has taken place, giving the audience a chance to have knowledge about all of the clues and try and put things together themselves also. The crime scene also leads into the DNA work that usually follows afterwards (where they send objects into the crime scene into DNA testing or people database ).

There is usually:

• Objects regarding the case
• Sometimes chalk drawn round the body when the body is taken away.
• Pictures taken of the crime scene.
• Clear bags to put the evidence in.

Informing The Next Of Kin:

Informing the next of kin is normally one of the most emotional parts of the programme, as it is when a family member or friend is informed about the murder of their loved one, which normally results in crying, which can be very upsetting to watch especially if you can relate to it. However, this is also the chance as an audience to see if the 'Next Of Kin' has anything to hide, for example, if they weren't very upset about the murder, this could mean that they should be a suspect, as it would be very unusual not to care about the murder of a loved one, which would indicate that maybe they weren't a 'loved' one, and maybe they have something to hide. 

The Confession:

This is when one of the suspects confesses about the murder, either if they are working with someone who killed them or they killed themselves.When the investigation gets to out of hand for the criminal to handle, or something has made them confess e.g guilt. This is when the truth is completely revealed finds out if they guessed right in who they thought the murderer was. Some people will get a guilty pleausure over this as they didn't even think that this person was the murderer so they could get some points from this.
"I did it" "I didn't mean to" "I know who did it" "It wasn't my fault :("



The Autopsy:




The Eureka Moment: