Doctor Who: Industry and Audience blog tasks

 Audience

1) Who is the target audience for Doctor Who? Has it changed since 1963?
Doctor who would appeal to 12-40 years old  but then after the reboot later gained younger fans towards the show
2) What audience psychographic groups might particularly enjoy Doctor Who?
people who like si-fi, horror, action, mystery
3) What audience pleasures are offered by An Unearthly Child? 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: How the girl: Susan is a student so that this will appeal to younger audiences  

Personal Relationships: Susan and her grandfather and her teachers

Diversion (Escapism): Si-fi, action, horror, mystery

Surveillance (Information / Facts): It is somewhat educational only a tiny bit though as it is si-fi and does include subjects such as science and maths

4) What additional Uses and Gratifications would this episode provide to a modern 2020 audience?
More of including celebrities that may appeal to younger audiences.
5) Thinking of the 3 Vs audience pleasures (Visceral, Vicarious and Voyeuristic pleasures), which of these can be applied to An Unearthly Child? Visceral as it is somewhat a hybrid of si-fi, action, horror and mystery


Industries

1) What was the television industry like in 1963? How many channels were there?
It included various different shows but there were from the BBC and broadcasted by them
2) Why is Doctor Who such an important franchise for the BBC? 
It became a very big thing as it blew up and many other series are being made and then they include different actors they even made the 13th doctor a female to show diversity
3) How does Doctor Who meet the BBC's mission statement to 'inform, educate and entertain'?
it meets entertain and somewhat educated as it is a si-fi and it is a show to entertain people of ages groups of 12-40.
4) How is the BBC funded?
Through TV licences 
5) Who regulates the BBC and what is the watershed?
OfCOM, they moderate the content being shown on the TV and are allowed to fine or ban certain shows that could be broadcasted.

Grade 8/9 extension tasks and reading

Read this New Statesman feature on Doctor Who as a global phenomenon. What does it suggest about Doctor Who fandom, British identity and the importance of the brand to the BBC? 

The doctor is very iconic and so it his tool that he uses, there have been many instances of the doctor but the most iconic was the 13th doctor as they made the doctor the first ever female character, they included more characters and even added black, gays, etc, to make it more controversial. 

Read this Guardian feature on the representations of race and ethnicity in Doctor Who over the last 55 years. How has the programme changed in its representations of race and how does this fit the BBC's remit to inform, educate and entertain? 

BBC have been broadcasting a variety of different shows like documentaries and kids shows or news channels, they all have a form of informing, educating and entertaining, some of the kids shows have some form a education and entertainment so do the other channels being broadcasted throughout the whole BBC.