The Bridge: Audience + Industry

Industry

Production and ownership information

The programme was originally commissioned and produced by Nimbus Film+Filmlance International, portraying the co-operational nature of the show, even in its production. It is also a co-production with CFF and Film i Skåne as well as various other European partners. Further economic funding from Creative Europe MEDIA (provide for high-quality, high budget European TV drama series) for Season 3 in order to maintain programme's high production values with 1 million euros.
Broadcast dates (including UK): S1- 2011 S2- 2013 S3- 2015 S4- 2018
Scheduling: Saturday 9pm slot in the UK, usually filled by subtitled dramas such as Les Revenants, Hostages, etc weekly two ep. blocks
Channel of original series: SVT1 Sweden and DR1 Denmark (BBC4 UK) leftist- liberal, public service rather than commercial context
Audience figures: Season 3 premiere attracted 1.5m viewers in Sweden, about 1 in 7 of population
BBC website info: Categories like "Characters" and blog posts ('Saga is becoming more unstable' from star Sofia Hein). Recap from Series 2. Clips. 'Buy online' link to BBC Store
DVD/ streaming release info: Available on Netflix on Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Canada
Remakes: US- 'The Bridge'; Anglo/ French 'The Tunnel'
Other ways to maximise audience aka global distribution: The Daily Telegraph reported in Feb. 2014 that The Bridge was on screen in 174 countries

How does The Bridge fit into the BBC's remit of the kinds of programmes it should be producing?
Specifically within BBC4 which aims to reflect a range of UK and international arts, music and culture, The Bridge fits the channel chosen by the BBC to be scheduled in. As a nordic noir show which therefore deals with profound serious issues within society; it also satisfies BBC4's ambition of providing innovative high-quality programming that is culturally and intellectually enriching. More explicitly it also fulfils the aim to offer international and foreign language films, dramas and docs.

Regulation information

The bodies in charge of regulating The Bridge were Ofcom for the UK and ... for Sweden/ Denmark.
What possible legal or ethical issues could have raised by the content of Series 1-3 to affect broadcast?
The dark and bleak nature of the show, given its Nordic Noir sub-genre, could have been an issue to audiences unfamiliar of the genre in the UK.

Audience

Audience marketing

How did the marketing (trailers, advertising, etc) for The Bridge target, identify and maximise its audience? This could also be by targeting an existing audience of the programme or genre. Consider the location of the audience as well as its previous knowledge.

• Use of specific genres/ sub-genres and their conventions

Not explicitly but coat implies investigator+ team low-angle shot = power of the law, original Scandi cover 'Bron/ Broen' duality of Danish-Swedish co-op+ sub-genre Nordic Noir influence, The Bridge dominates background as iconography,

• Use of stars audiences would recognise 

"as seen on the BBC" DVD cover, Scandinavian DVD cover's three lines to signify Series 3 and continue earlier branding

• Use of characters audiences want to know more about or identify with

Saga in all of them, facial features serious, implies coldness and social inadequacy, and in some there's Saga+ partner (Henrik/ Martin) in order to have the ability to choose

• Any other methods used to target audiences e.g. enigmas and link to other products or genres

de-saturated colour palettes, high-contrast and low lighting to be stylistically generic and create enigma; Scandi version- multi-lingual blurbs to have an international appeal + bilingual title reflects production context

Press coverage- Radio Times (Saga) CATCHY LANG. EYE-CATCHING CODE IMPOSITION + Nordic Noir (Sofia Helin) magazines TONED DOWN PALETTE+ SPECIFIC LEXIS
Radio Times- 'feminist icon' and 'sex symbol' reception commented by Helin (didn't interpret it that way intentionally but feminist icon > sex symbol) + comment on the uneven amount of refugee intake by the UK compared to Sweden, despite larger population informs the social issues discussed on Nordic Noir

Audience response

Popularity of the genre/ sub-genre
Fandom
@TheBridgeUK with about 18k likes+ follows, Instagram with 5,600 follows
Twitter fan accounts with more than 1000 followers
Unexpected international reception mentioned by Heil on the British show This Morning.
What could be an oppositional reading of The Bridge, in particular in relation to how different types of audience and nationalities could respond to the character of Saga or the settings and theme of the programme? Any other examples?
Asperger's syndrome
Nordic Noir
Pg. 48-49 booklet

Critical response 

Give examples of fan, newspaper and website reviews of the series and any awards. Were this generally positive and what were the main reasons?
The series was positively received by critics, winning the Critics' Choice Television Award for Most Exciting New Series and the Peabody Award (noting "its rare, non-stereotypical depiction of two cultures rubbing against and informing each other is fascinating as is the mystery") in 2013.