Deutschland 83
Production company: UFA Fiction
Genre: Cold War espionage
1 season 8 episodes
Was most popular foreign-drama in Britain upon release.
Deutschland 83 is a 2015 German television series starring Jonas Nay as a 24-year-old native of East Germany who, in 1983, is sent to West Germany as an undercover spy for the HVA, the foreign intelligence agency of the Stasi.
Narrative
• How does the use of the narrative conventions of the spy thriller and crime drama – use of
enigmas, binary oppositions, restricted and omniscient narration etc. – position the audience?
• The narrative of Deutschland 83 has been controversial – particularly in Germany -through its
use of binary oppositions to contrast East and West Germany.
• The role of the hero and effect of audience alignment with Martin Rauch, a Stasi Officer.
• The narrative of Deutschland 83 can be defined as postmodern in its self-reflexive style.
• Narratology including Todorov.
Capital
Production Company: Kudos
Genre: British drama television
1 Season 4 Episodes
Capital is a three-part British television adaptation of John Lanchester’s novel Capital. The series was written by Peter Bowker, directed by Euros Lyn and produced by Matt Strevens for Kudos Film & Television Company. The story centres on the residents of a road in South London as the value of each house in the street is approaching £2 million. They all begin to receive repeated postcards with the message “We want what you have”. The first episode was broadcast on BBC One on 24 November 2015.
Narrative
• Which narrative techniques are used to engage the audience in the opening episode of Capital?
• How does the use of the narrative conventions of the crime drama – use of enigmas,
restricted narration etc. – position the audience?
• Capital is characteristic of contemporary TV narrative style in its use of multiple story structure.
• The ways in which the narrative structure of Capital offers gratification to the audience.
• Narratology including Todorov.
Pages 6-9 in the CSP booklet