(4a) written up answer

Compare how and why two programmes were scheduled on different channels.

Bad Education is on BBC Three and shows usually at the time of 9.00pm on weekdays. It runs for 30 minutes on a once a week basis, I believe this happens because its a small story every week that has a brief beginning middle and end therefore doesn't need to be on for a massive period of time. Friday night dinner on the other hand shows on a Friday night because that night suits with the theme of the programme, Although they both have the same showing time which is after the watershed, this could be due to the slight inappropriate content that younger viewers would not want to watch.

The audience for Bad Education has a more specific audience because it is humerous for teens at school that can relate to the characters lives and find what they are doing relatable, It also has an appeal for teachers as they will  be able to relate to the teacher characters also appreciate their issues and day to day occurrences. Other than this there isn't any other audience that this programme would appeal to because all the story lines and jokes are always based on and around the school life, This never differs as it is the theme of the programme.
This is different for Friday Night Dinner, the audience for this is more varied because there is a larger range of characters that an audience can relate to. There is a mum dad and 2 sons, also neighbors and occasionally grandparents. Due to the fact that it is a family based comedy it means that all audience members who are in a family themself can find it appealing and will be able to appreciate the comedy. Many of the situations from this programme are often ones that will happen to every average family. An example of this was visit from Grandma, whereby the sons received awful presents but had to pretend to like them.

(4b) Discuss in detail how one programme (Bad Education) offers audience pleasures. Give examples from the programme. [15 marks]

Bad Education has many audience pleasures that attract the audience to keep watching and have interest. Firstly this programme has a narrative resolution, meaning that the programme starts and ends in the same location and throughout it always links back to the start. This is appealing for an audience because it gives them familiarity and a constant assurance that the problem that occurs in the programme will always be resolved and go no further than the location it is set in (the school).

Another attracting factor about the programme is that you can identify with the characters, their immaturity and relationships with each other makes them easy to relate to and also makes them easier to understand and grow emotions for. Such as Mr Wicker; he always gets himself into awkward situations. An example of this is when he decided to pretend one of the student’s Mum’s had died, to impress another female teacher. He tries to discover a common interest with her through a charity she was supporting and ended up getting himself into a web of lies. Usually this would be viewed and completely awful but because you can appreciate his point of view and relate to his personality it makes the audience feel sympathetic for him and also find what he does humorous. Situations like these are commonly referred to as snowballing narratives, meaning that it starts off with a character making a bad decision or silly mistakes, and then it escalates and gets worse and the programme continues. This is appealing to an audience because it creates a build-up and always leaves the reader intrigued to how they character will get out of the situation. This is called a narrative hook.

Verbal comedy is a major part in Bad Education, as it massively relies on innuendos to make the audience laugh. The jokes in this programme are mostly old fashion/classic jokes, usually linked to rude jokes to do with sexual things and in the jokes about toilets etc. They are usually delivered with word play to make them discretely funny and not obviously offensive. Physical comedy is also used alongside verbal to make it more visually satisfying, an example of this is standing on toilets when they boys were telling jokes. These kind of jokes are often repeated throughout the episode so there is familiar humour for the audience.

Bad Education is largely popular for its transgressive pleasures. A lot of the students are sexualised and sexualise eachother for humour and to make their characters relatable. This is evident between one of the students and Mr Wicker, this makes it funny to watch and also displays an awkward and uncomfortable element. It is called taboo language that appeals specifically to the targeted audience, and is specifically created to pleasure them,

(4a) Compare how and why two programmes were scheduled on different channels.


State the day, time and channel of each programme.

• Who commissioned the programmes?
• Who produced them?

Bad Education is a British sitcom produced by Tiger Aspect Productions for BBC Three
production-The first series started airing on 14 August 2012. On 23 August 2012, it was announced that Bad Education would have a second series. The second series began airing on BBC Three on 3 September 2013.^[ Part of the second series was filmed at St. Michael's Catholic High School, Finchley, London. Bad Education was also partly filmed at the former site of Ashmount Primary School on Hornsey Lane on 12 and 13 May 2013




Friday Night Dinner is a British television sitcom written by Robert Popper and starring Tamsin Greig, Paul Ritter, Simon Bird, Tom Rosenthal and Mark Heap.The comedy is focused on the regular dinner experience of a British Jewish family (the Goodmans) on each Friday night. The first series originally aired from 25 February 2011 on Channel 4.

• What audience are they aimed at? Why?

The Gender of the audience for Bad Education is predominately male. This is because of the  crude/vulgar content of the situation comedy and the codes/conventions used through out the show. Stereotypically young males  are quite immature and are easily amused by sexual innuendo, which is a used through out Bad Education. Where as the female of the same age group are stereotypically mature and may not be amused by the vulgar content of Bad Education.


I believe that the target audience age will span predominately between 16-24 year olds as this is the primary target audience for BBC 3 as a channel. This is the age group for the target audience of Bad Education as the show uses current themes and trends which are commonly found amongst the lives of 16-24 year olds


Friday Night Dinner is aimed at a similar audience to Bad Education but could range to slightly older because of the parent element of the show that could be relatable to the more mature adults who may have kids of their own or be married themselves.

• Why are they on at that time and on that channel? Link to 'type' of comedy and target audience. 

New episodes of Bad Education are usually shown after the watershed and on prime times such as 9.00pm, but never on key days such as Friday and Saturday. Usually because the content isn't suitable for earlier slots and their audience is a more mature audience. The programme isn't worth such prime days such as weekends, which is used for more generally popular shows.
Bad Education on BBC 3 can often be repeated from old series during the day. This is called a filler to use up time for day time TV that not many people watch.


Friday Night Dinner is on a Friday night because of the content of the programme. It suits the day it shows and also flows well with the time (9.00pm) as it is a prime time where a lot of families will be watching TV.

• Are they on after the watershed? Why?

Bad Education will be on after the watershed because the content isn't suitable for young viewers.
Friday Night Dinner is on  after the watershed because the content is quite mature that only an older audience will find funny and entertaining.

• Know the audience demographic

You must know:

1. day 
2. time
3. channel
4. for both programmes (Friday Night Dinner and Bad Education).