Television: His Dark Materials - Audience and Industry

There are some important contexts we need to learn for the Industry and Audience key concepts for His Dark Materials.

His Dark Materials is an example of contemporary family TV drama. The series is based on the

trilogy of books of the same name by Philip Pullman. The second series is based on the book,

The Subtle Knife.

Industries

The CSP episode is the opening episode of Season 2, The City of Magpies, and was first broadcast in the UK on Sunday 8 November 2020 on BBC1 at 8.10pm. It was made available on iPlayer on the same

day, and on DVD from 28 December 2020.

It is significant because it was co-commissioned for an international audience by the BBC and the

American television network HBO, and was always intended to be distributed on a number of

platforms: as a scheduled, broadcast programme (BBC1), on cable (HBO), as well as on demand

(iPlayer) and on DVD. It was created for these platforms by an independent company, Bad Wolf.

His Dark Materials marketing and promotion

As His Dark Materials was aimed at an international audience, the show features both British and American star names such as Brits Ruth Wilson and James McAvoy and American Lin-Manuel Miranda who wrote the smash hit musical Hamilton.

There were a range of videos and promotional events designed to create a buzz around the new season of His Dark Materials:

His Dark Materials Season 1 recap

His Dark Materials Comic-Con panel:

Bad Wolf: outstanding TV drama production company based in Wales

Bad Wolf was founded in 2015 to create ambitious, imaginative and relevant drama for the global TV marketplace.  From its headquarters in South Wales the company has built up an international reputation as one of the foremost independent production companies in the UK, producing over 50 hours of high-end drama for broadcasters and networks including HBO, BBC, AMC and Sky.

Read more of this on the Bad Wolf website and watch the Bad Wolf showreel here.


HBO: raising the bar for television

HBO is an American pay-TV company that is known for producing some of the greatest TV shows of all time from The Sopranos to The Wire to Succession. As a co-commission with the BBC, His Dark Materials had two hugely respected media giants behind it - and in HBO's case a huge amount of money. HBO has over 40 million subscribers and brought in $6.8 BILLION in subscription revenue. To put this into perspective, the whole BBC budget (for everything - TV, radio, online etc.) was £3.7 billion. 

BBC: Industry notes reminder

The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) is a public service organisation and the oldest national broadcaster and the biggest in terms of employees [over 20,000]. It is different from other TV broadcasters in that funding comes from us all as BBC licence fee payers whereas other channels rely on advertising and sponsorship.  The BBC has 3 key purposes: To Inform, Educate & Entertain. This means:

• To provide information (that is supposed to be balanced)
• To support learning for people of all ages
• To produce creative output
• To have diverse content (such as with its representations)
• To reflect the United Kingdom, its culture and values to the world

Where does His Dark Materials fit into these objectives and the BBC mission statement?


BBC regulation reminder

The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) has a board of governing members and is independent of government intervention.  This means that it can produce content free impartially.

Since 2017, The BBC is now regulated by OfCOM (the Office of Communications).  OfCOM oversees all media channels and produces a code of conduct that all media channels must follow or have their licence to make content removed and/or be fined heavily.  

This includes suitable programmes before the 9pm watershed and various other quality standards.

Audience

His Dark Materials was pitched by the BBC as a family drama. The first episode of the first series of His Dark Materials series was watched by audiences of 7.2millon in the UK and 423,000 on HBO. The first broadcasts of the CSP episode had audiences of 4.4million on BBC1 and 227,000 on HBO.

Target audience

• Aimed at a contemporary family audience for the BBC Sunday night broadcast slot (8.10pm)
• Targeted at fans of the fantasy genre along with fans of the original books by Philip Pullman.
• Diverse representations of gender and race may appeal to a younger audience.
• Rated for 14+ by HBO due to some scenes that may be frightening to younger children.
• The UK DVD release of His Dark Materials season 2 is rated 12 by the BBFC.

The way audiences watch TV has changed

His Dark Materials provides an opportunity to study the contemporary television industry and audiences. The series was created at a time when the BBC’s role and finances were under question, and when on-demand streaming through sources such as Netflix and Amazon Prime had become normalised. These latter companies were creating big-budget series to attract and satisfy more subscribers. His Dark Materials was rumoured to be the BBC’s most expensive series to date, with HBO sharing the costs and guaranteeing an international audience. This helps the BBC to compete with their streaming rivals like Netflix.

Fans - the fandom reaction

Watch this fan reaction video to His Dark Materials Season 2 trailer from TV fan YouTube channel Sesskasays:

His Dark Materials: Industry and Audience blog tasks

Create a new blogpost called 'His Dark Materials: Industry and Audience blog tasks' and answer the following questions:

Industries

1) What famous stars are in His Dark Materials and why do you think they were selected for the show? Watch the Comic Con panel video in the notes above to see the stars talking about the show.

2) How does His Dark Materials meet the BBC's mission statement to 'inform, educate and entertain'?

3) What was American network HBO's role in making His Dark Materials and why is this important?

4) Why are streaming services like Netflix or Amazon Prime bad news for the BBC?

5) How does His Dark Materials help the BBC to take on the big streaming rivals like Netflix and Amazon?

Audience

1) Read this audience rating guide for His Dark Materials. Based on the screening and this article, who do you think the target audience is for His Dark Materials and why? What about psychographic groups? You can revise Pyschographics here.

2) What audience pleasures are offered by His Dark Materials - The City of Magpies? Apply Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory to the episode. Make sure you provide specific examples from the episode to support your ideas.

Personal Identity:

Personal Relationships:

Diversion (Escapism):

Surveillance (Information / Facts):

3) Thinking of the 3 Vs audience pleasures (Visceral, Vicarious and Voyeuristic pleasures), which of these can be applied to His Dark Materials?

4) How did fans react to Season 2 of His Dark Materials? What about critic reviews? You can find some possible answers for this in this BBC website article on the critical reception for His Dark Materials and watch the fan reaction video above.

5) What might be some of the preferred and oppositional readings for His Dark Materials? Why did some fans love it? Why have other people criticised it?


Comparison: Doctor Who - An Unearthly Child and His Dark Materials - The City of Magpies

1) How are the technical conventions different between 1963 Doctor Who and 2020 His Dark Materials (e.g. camerawork, editing, sound and mise-en-scene)?

2) What similarities and differences are there between Doctor Who and His Dark Materials in terms of genre and narrative?

3) What similarities and differences are there between Doctor Who and His Dark Materials in terms of how they meet the BBC's remit to inform, educate and entertain?

4) How are representations of people, places and groups similar or different in the two shows?

5) What similarities and differences can you find in terms of the audience pleasures for An Unearthly Child and The City of Magpies?


Grade 8/9 extension tasks and readin

Read this Guardian review of His Dark Materials - The City of Magpies and also read some of the comments 'below the line' (BTL). Do you agree with the review? What about the comments? 

Try this critical Irish Times review of His Dark Materials. Why does it think the show is disappointing?

Here's another review of our CSP episode of His Dark Materials. What does it say about the difference for fans of the book versus fans of the TV show?

This Slate feature on the cultural significance of American network HBO is a long read but gives you a brilliant history of the channel. It also shows how HBO has turned TV into possibly the most respected and culturally significant media entertainment form.

Due date on Google Classroom.