No Offence CSP

Media context Brief Episode 1 Analysis

No Offence is a crime-drama, fused with elements of social realism and comedy. It’s created by Paul Abbott, famed for creating  Dinah is immediately presented as a maverick
Shameless, and working on other Manchester-based dramas, like Coronation Street and Cracker. Abbott’s work always includes  Her feminine sexuality is shown through a
elements of the very strong identity of the working-class of Manchester. This show is filmed in Manchester, helping the regional close-up shot of her high-heels
authenticity. Many of the actors are even from Manchester, meaning their accent is authentic, plus they may have some personal  Plenty of post-watershed appropriate
experiences with the city that may influence their performance. Both of these factors also help realism and authenticity. elements, like swearing and sex references,
intertextual link to Shameless and other Paull
The main-protagonist is played by Joanna Scanlan, who’s known for being a strong character-actor. The show was immediately a success
Abbott work through the tracking shot of
with critics and audiences, racking up 2.5 million views of its pilot episode in 2015. It is now into its 3 rd series. The show is broadcast at
Manchester
9PM, past watershed, in a highly contested slot, allowing for violence, swearing, and sexual references.
 Clear iconography of police badge helps
The role of Channel 4 (the channel that No Offence is exclusively shown on) is crucial. They are expected to provide high-quality, audience immediately identify genre and
alternative programmes. possible themes of the show
 Respectable representation of women, female
Demographics character controls her friend, presenting her
and her gender as strong and instinctive
 Target audience of show is educated liberals of both genders, of ages 18-35
 Down-to-earth realism portrayed from the
 Channel 4 have a similar middle class target audience, of both genders and a similar age range
very start with the fleeing criminal and the
 However, despite the alternative approach, high ratings suggest that No Offence is by no means niche
Hen Night party on the bus. All characters so
 People from Manchester can directly relate with elements of story but ultimately working-class people nationwide can relate
far have a clear regional accent. This pinpoints
to characters and plot points
the working-class population and culture
Audience Positioning within Manchester
 Male characters are shown, and are catalysts
 Series enforces the ideal of an educated audience, and seeks to provide them with drama and escapism, common results of to the story, but are ultimately secondary to
the crime-drama genre the main female characters, banter is seen in
 The audience align themselves with the morally ambiguous characters in the show the station but is gender-neutral and shows
 Issue of personal identity, especially with female characters, is explored chemistry within the police force, not
enclosed male groups
Genre Theory
 Dinah has a personal secret, these personal
 Binary oppositions (a key feature of genre) are present on an explicit level, through the conflict between the police and the struggles of main characters are typical of
criminals, but also in the juxtaposition between the perceived unity and authoritarian nature of the police force and the maverick crime-dramas
personality of a lot of the featured officers  Females as high ranking DC’s, and in plain,
 Clichés like jargon are used, and cultural/socio-economic stereotypes are also shown gender-neutral clothing, challenges gender
stereotyping
 Dark humour used by the women shows them
to be mature, ridiculing the patriarchy in the
police force