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This thesis focuses on understanding The Bill, as an example of the television police genre, in cultural practice and situating the genre within larger systems of cultural hierarchies within Australia and Britain rather than emphasising the relationship between genre and power relations. This thesis examines factors in the longevity and institutionalisation of the British television drama The Bill in Australia and Britain. In doing so, it analyses issues of production, memorable characters, characterization, and fandom. Chapter One explains the reasons for research and examines, through frameworks of genre studies, cultural studies and postmodernism, the concepts of genre in general and television genre in particular. Chapter Two, in providing an overview of literature in relation to the television police genre, identifies a number of gaps within contemporary literature relating to this field. It provides an overview of the television police genre in Australia, Britain and the USA from the 1950s to the present and focuses on the interplay of repetition and difference in examples of the genre. This chapter argues that the television police genre is shaped by national rather than global discourses and is displayed in iconography that reflects national attributes and cultural context. Chapter Three examines production issues relevant to The Bill. In doing so it incorporates a history of the pilot episode (1983) and the series format (1984-2004). The influence of individual Executive Producers is identified and analysed in relation to factors impacting on the longevity of The Bill. Chapter Four examines five memorable characters selected by fans in an online forum in April 2002. Each of the characters selected incorporates national characteristics that transcend generic boundaries. In illustrating the link between such characters and the longevity and institutionalisation of The Bill in Australia and Britain, this chapter focuses on character type, character development, and character interaction. Chapter Five examines characterization used in The Bill and explores discourses of gender and race. In analysing these discourses, emphasis is placed on the way in which The Bill, in its pre-1997 police procedural guise and its post-1997 soap opera guise, uses the interplay of repetition and difference to challenge generic boundaries. Chapter Six explores the world of fandom and focuses on the role of technology in the rise of an informed and literate body of fans. In identifying and analysing hardcopy and electronic sites of activity, this chapter argues that the fandom of The Bill, through videorecording, meeting facilitation, website creation, and fan fiction production and dissemination, comprises an active, informed and literate community. This chapter defines fans as followers or viewers who possess, or have access to, encyclopaedic knowledge of their chosen passion, whether it be a television series in general or a television character in particular. This chapter demonstrates that such activities are aided immeasurably by electronic channels of communication. Chapter Seven summarises research and findings and indicates areas for further study. It highlights largely unexplored research areas relating to the influence exerted by individual Executive Producers on specific television series, to characterisation in televisual genres other than soap opera, and to sites of activity within specific fandoms. |
