So many radio dramas predicated on the murder of women

[whataboutbob]

Am I the only one to feel weary at radio 4s current run of dramas centering around the murder of young women / variations on the serial killer genre. Last week it was a prequel to a TV series and all about a serial killer and his young female victims. This week at 10:45 we are treated to meera syal investigating the historic murder of a young prostitute. Wait a couple of hours and we’re reassured that next week there’ll be a serialised Scottish drama about a murder/ series of murders ( not sure of the victims’ gender). There’s a wider discussion to be had about popular culture’s apparent addiction to female suffering, but It sometimes seems to me it’s everywhere- endless TV dramas about serial killers mutilating young women ( and as if for balance these days, the tough but flawed female detective in charge of the investigation), serial killer books, serial killer films.

Those were my thoughts too on hearing the trailer for the Meera Syal thing. As if it wasn’t bad enough to have all the CSI and Criminal Minds stuff on telly and the stalker-thriller stuff at the cinema. I’m fed up of all the tracking shots following the lone woman down the dark alleyway.

Yes I thought the same thing tonight. Could we just have a blanket ban, just for a little bit, to make writers think of other plot lines.

I know some women writers are starting to speak out against this surfeit of female murder victims. I really hope that it becomes a trend because I too have had it with the trailers of the terrified female victim to be.

It’s so dull, isn’t it. Lazy writing to make the victim more immediately likeable without needing to flesh them out. If you contrast it with someone like Dorothy L Sayers, she’s quite happy for victims to be elderly or middle-aged and unappealing males - and trusts to skill for the reader’s interest to be caught.

I agree and I think it's definitely a spill-over from TV which is absolutely obsessed with miserable murder stuff, mostly Women but also the next go-to of child murder/abuse.

I think it's a deliberate attempt to spice up BBC Radio drama which has been lambasted for years as irrelevant and badly-written (today's afternoon drama on 4 was a classic example) but this is completely the wrong way to go.

Good points there,' I hadn't thought of it in the context of the BBC trying to revamp its drama format and giving itself a quick shot of adrenaline with a load of serial killer stories. In my view it's short sighted. There have been excellent dramas by people such as Jon Canter which are engaging, witty and reflective and do not rely on the usual clichés and female bodycount. Plus as Travelling said you can do murder dramas if you have to without relying on women and children as the victims.
If there is any movement out there or petition to the BBC pointing out that femicide and vioIence towards women are less than desirable topics for entertainment I'd be delighted to join in.

Oh, serial killers are so dull too. It’s like a child telling a story, where the answer to ‘why did they do that’ is ‘they just did’.

Perhaps letters to feedback are called for? A bit of research and then a letter or letters to the commissioning editor? Ideally timing it just before the next round of pitching ideas takes place.

Dorothy Sayers may actually have been quite squeamish, I suspect. She generally kills off her victims as quickly and painlessly as possible, though she tends to dwell on the horror of being a murderer and awaiting execution.

Oh, but Philip Boyce gets to suffer ;-)

Damn, so he does! But she doesn't like him much. Same goes for the One in the Belfry.

I shall revise my thesis to 'Dorothy Sayers was squeamish about inflicting pain on female victims'. Is that fair?

Completely agree!

Haven’t read any Sayers. But I suspect that would be more my thing than the current crop of writers. Good idea to write to Feedback. When will the next round of pitching be?

I think that Dorothy L Sayers was very happy to brutally murder men that she felt had screwed over a female character. The more villainous the person, the more cunningly contorted their death.

I think Feedback would be a good idea. I know that documentaries have just had a pitching round, and I wonder if we’re too late to hit this year’s drama.

downloads.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/site/radio-4-commissioning-guidelines-spring-2017.pdf

Yes I'm so fed up with it. Thanks for the thread.