Representation
Gavin: - Semi-detached house in Billericay, reasonably sized.
- Billericay is populated town
- Socialises down the pub
- Lives with his Mum & Dad, Pam & Mick.
Stacey: - Small, terraced house in Wales.
- Barry, Wales is a very small populated town, with few attractions
- Lives with her widowed Mother, Gwen.
- Hunts for bargains, clothes shop from TK Maxx
Nessa: - Represented as a butch women
- Wears provocative clothing
- Comes across as intimidating
- Stacey’s best friend
Smithy: - Gavin’s best friend
- Time is spent socialising down the pub
Pam: - Gavin’s house proud and doting mother
Mick: - Gavin’s down to earth father
Working class behaviour such as smoking and drinking occurs, but is however contrasted with the occasional middle class activities such as Gavin’s father, Mick, playing golf.
Occupations: Gavin and Stacey both work in offices, however Stacey later becomes unemployed. Smithy is a builder, Nessa works for a few hours in an arcade by the seafront.
Series 1, Episode 1, Part 1:
Audience
Gavin & Stacey started on BBC 3 as part of a new campaign for more British comedy. Originally conceived as a one off special, there was room for 6 weekly episode series and so they were commissioned to fill it. Series 1 gained roughly 0.5 million viewers per episode. Due to this a second series was granted, viewing figures climbed to 1.5 million. After this the first and second series were re run on BBC1. Series 3 premiered on BBC1 due to high popularity and the penultimate episode of the series on Christmas day 2009 was the fourth most watched show of the day. With the series finale on news year’s eve being the 5th most popular of the day gaining over 10 million viewers. The programme won a BAFTA Audience Award and Best TV Comedy Award at the British Comedy Awards. It gained many positive reviews. The first series was met very warmly by critics when it was transmitted in May 2007 - The Radio Times called it 'one of the best comedies of the year'.
Institution
Ruth Jones and James Corden wrote the series. Having come from middle class background they portrayed a mix of characters instead of sticking solely to representing their own class and backgrounds. It was produced by Baby Cow Production a BBC comedy production company. It ran for a total 20 episodes, broadcast between 13th May 2007 – 1st January 2010.
Media Theory
“Genres are not fixed and timeless; they are open to historical change.” James Cordon is from a middle class lifestyle but hasn’t allowed his experiences to take over the show, as there is elements of both middle class and working class representations. For example, Gavin is seen to be a middle class citizen where as his wife, Stacey comes across as working class.
No comments:
Post a Comment