Doctor Who: Audience and Industry

 Audience

1) Who is the target audience for Doctor Who? Has it changed since 1963? The target audience for Doctor Who was more male than female because they were mainly interested in the science genre which has changed since 1963 as more females enjoy science-fiction rather than males and the age was 12-65 and for mainly for a family audience is still the same as 1963. Plus the ethnicity/race being white British people whilst it changing as people of different ethnicities and races watching Doctor Who and the social class being working and middle class still being the same. 

2) What audience psychographic groups might particularly enjoy Doctor Who? Mainstreamers - broad appeal as millions of people watch BBC and BBC was one of the only channels that could be used for entertainment. Reformers - want the world to change, like new things and strange stuff. Explorers - like genres like science-fiction and mystery and stuff related to technology.

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: High school setting, pop music, rebellion in TARDIS

Personal Relationships: cliffhanger at the end of the episode, worried for Ian and Barbara, Doctor seems like a villain

Diversion (Escapism): science-fiction, new, futuristic, mysterious, crime drama

Surveillance (Information / Facts): science/space/technology, History

4) What additional Uses and Gratifications would this episode provide to a modern 2020 audience?  Surveillance because it gives more context to a modern audience of how 1963 was like from the high school setting and character and who had more power (males or females).

5) Thinking of the 3 Vs audience pleasures (Visceral, Vicarious and Voyeuristic pleasures), which of these can be applied to An Unearthly Child? Vicarious pleasure because the franchise has things to do with space/technology/dimension and Voyeuristic as it shows the TARDIS is new and you wouldn't normally see something like the TARDIS and the talk between the teachers which is something you wouldn't normally see.


Industries

1) What was the television industry like in 1963? How many channels were there? There were only two channels in the television industry in 1963 which were BBC and ITV.

2) Why is Doctor Who such an important franchise for the BBC? The Doctor Who is an important franchise to BBC because it follows BBC's mission statement to 'inform, educate and entertain' and it help with the funds.

3) How does Doctor Who meet the BBC's mission statement to 'inform, educate and entertain'? Doctor Who meets the BBC's mission statement to 'inform, educate and entertain' because it has a balance of all for educate and inform it tells the audience the history of the human race and for entertain it is like a distraction.

4) How is the BBC funded? BBC is funded by merchandise and us all by the TV license.

5) Who regulates the BBC and what is the watershed? BBC is regulated by Ofcom and watershed is the time when TV programmes which might be unsuitable for children can be broadcast which is 9pm for the BBC.