1.2 Fictional detectives
It is very likely that you will have experience of policing and criminal investigations through reading or watching crime fiction, and this experience is likely to lead to expectations about what happens in an investigation. Do you think these expectations might affect how you approach the current case? To start, think about who your favourite detectives are. They might come from novels, drama series or films.
Zoë’s favourite detective is DCI Gene Hunt, the maverick and politically incorrect detective from the show Life on Mars played by Philip Glenister. This is partly because of the humour that is to be gained from Gene Hunt’s 1970s brutal policing methods being juxtaposed against more modern expectations of policing. It is also because, like many fictional detectives, Hunt is depicted as intuitive and instinctive, and it is enjoyable to believe that these are important traits in real detectives. In fact, as you will discover in this course, being curious, open minded and resilient are probably much more important traits.
Graham’s favourite detective is Inspector Sara Lund from the Danish drama series The Killing (‘Forbrydelsen’), played by the immensely talented Sofie Gråbøl and famous for wearing Nordic wool jumpers. Lund is dedicated and relentless in pursuit of her case, and although she has a clear disdain for policing politics and will not let them get in her way, she is psychologically astute and careful to follow the evidence, using techniques that do not distort it. She is not so careful with her personal life, where her emotional distance and prioritisation of her work cause problems in her relationships. The combination of repression and passion make her a fascinating character, and her obsession with the investigation is an irresistible force that carries the viewer along.
As you find out more about DI Bullet and DS Sund, the detectives in this course, you may begin to see the influence of Zoë and Graham’s favourite detectives in how their characters were developed.
Think of who your own favourite detectives are and do pay attention to how they have shaped your expectations of how police investigations are conducted and also what the ‘right’ way of doing things might be. Whether you are a Gene Hunt, anything goes if it gets a result, or favour a more play-by-the-rules approach like Sara Lund, may well affect how you perceive the crime and investigation as it unfolds.
In the activity that follows you will think further about how your expectations might be influenced by media depictions of policing.
Activity 1
Do you think that what you might want from a police detective will differ depending on how you are involved in the investigation? To explore this question further, have a go at the two polls below.
Did you choose different detectives depending on whether you were the victim or suspect? If so, reflect on what it was about the detectives that made you choose them given the scenario.