In the Line of Duty – Our love affair with TV detectives
Most of us have been watching a large amount of television in the last year, and among the most popular Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ dramas are several that involve detectives. From the ever popular and long running British drama Line of Duty, through to Life on Mars, The Fall and the American show The Wire, crime dramas make for compelling viewing, and we consume them with a passion.
In TV dramas, detectives are portrayed as the archetypally 'maverick'."
In TV dramas, detectives are portrayed as the archetypally “maverick”. They are often lonely in their personal life, and frequently have a complicated relationship with either drink, sex or medication. We seem, as a public, to prefer our TV detectives at best ‘quirky’ and at worst ‘flawed’.
Even their good traits often have a downside. TV detectives always work tirelessly, often to the detriment of other aspects of their lives. The long and anti-social hours they work mean they repeatedly let down their family and friends, with their determination to solve the case seemingly outweighing their other commitments in life.
Research suggests that when we spend time with fictional characters in TV, film or books it can change how we feel both about ourselves and others.
In my own research () we found that fictional characters don’t need to be heroes for us to empathise with them. They can even be “bad”! We tested people’s reactions to reading about a criminal, finding that people transported into a story would subsequently empathise with other offenders. It seems likely then, that fiction allows us to spend time with the type of person we might not actually want to hang out with in real life ().
As a psychologist who regularly provides training to police officers on the psychology of interviewing suspects, I have met more than my fair share of detectives who are working on serious crime cases in the UK. By the time I get to meet these officers, they have normally got years of policing under their belts and have already completed the basic interview training that would be used in dealing with less serious crime.
Whilst of course, I don’t pry into the private lives of the detectives I meet on these courses, nor query their potential vices and predilections, my sense is that the vast majority of them are far from the maverick loners we watch on the TV. Many are in stable relationships, they are often parents and personality-wise they mainly appear to be warm and good-humoured individuals, who enjoy the company of other people. You can observe this in training, where detectives may come together from different units and locations (and so may not regularly work together day to day) but will quickly bond and support each other through the highs and lows of a course.
Sometimes they mention hobbies and interests they pursue outside of work, and quite frequently these relate to sport or exercise. This I find reassuring as research () is increasingly recognising the value of such activities in police officer wellbeing. Despite these outside interests, however, I would agree that the ‘hardworking detective’ trope that we see on the television reflects reality more closely than the trope that detectives are ‘maverick loners’. Detectives, whether real-life or fictional, are hard workers.
"Detectives, whether real-life or fictional, are hard workers."
Although the training I am involved with is a serious business, I have allowed myself to fantasise about arriving at an advanced suspect interview training course and finding that the delegates are my favourite TV detectives! DI Steve Arnott, enthusiastic to close the case but far too quick to tell the suspect what they have done, rather than listening to what they have to say. DI Sam Tyler, very sharp on up-to-the-minute procedure and process. Of course, there always has to be a naughty kid at the back of the room, and who better than DCI Gene Hunt? Still in the 1970s, pinning suspects up against the wall, a complete stranger to more modern, rapport-building interview techniques underpinned by notions of respectful treatment. I can already picture the look on his face when I introduce to him the notion of ‘empathic responding’.
If you enjoy police drama, and would like to find out more about how the police really interview people in criminal cases, an episode of the podcast Bad People, hosted by Dr Julia Shaw and comedian Sofie Hagen will delve into the topic further. They will discuss a fascinating and complex case that helped transform current police procedures.
Dr Zoe Walkington is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology and Counselling at the Open University. She has been an academic advisor to ten episodes of the Bad People podcasts, and her Open University website page is here:
