Narrative in Tv Drama

A couple wake up and go downstairs to breakfast. They do not realise they are being watched by terrorists. Fiona and Danny go to work and get taken hostage - the main intention of the terrorists is the kill the PM. Adam then gets called and has to do what the terrorists say for fear of losing his wife - tries to save Fiona but cannot as is being watched by the woman who has bombs sewn up inside of her. Extremely tense moment - husband has to choose between wife & Danny, Danny gets shot anyway for being principled and standing up for what he believes in. Another extremely tense moment - will the woman release the gases and kill everyone? Or will she tell the husband where they're being held hostage? She does the right things and Fiona is saved and the terrorist shot.

Narrative Conventions:

Beginning - couple happy, in love, it's her birthday - Equilibrium.
Middle - Dilemma - Fiona and Danny held hostage by extremist terrorists wanting their revenge. Main focus is trying to free them - feel a connection to the characters, they're in love, audience wish to see them back together.
Ending - Equilibrium is restored, but things will never be how they were - Danny died, the trauma of the experience etc.

Most stories end happily to please the audience. Tv is generally watched for enjoyment and watching greatly moving stories with sad endings can be distressing . Although sad endings are good once in a while, especially in One off true story dramas (such as A Weekend in Switzerland), happy endings are much preferred on the whole as they have the feel good factor, provide relief for the audience who really feel for the characters and meet audience expectations. Much tv is watched for escapism, a release from everyday life and for relaxation. Ending a tv drama on a distressing note reminds the viewer of the harshness of reality, and does not improve their mood or allow them to escapre their reality.

It's important to establish the standard way of living, the equilibrium, before the disruption, because this allows the viewer to understand what is being threatened by the dilema. In Spooks, the viewer understands that the couple are deeply in love, they're young, they have so much to live for and all this is put in jeopardy by the terrorists. Dramatic Irony is used, the viewer knows something the characters do not, they're being watched from the outside, and this heightens the tension and suspence as the audience is hooked to find out what will happen next.

The audience is automatically encouraged to take sides, this young couple are young in love, members of the mi5 secretly fighting crime, the audience feels sympathy for them, they have done nothing wrong. This is binary opposition, good against bad.
However, in this episode of spooks this is somewhat blurred, because the terrorists blame the couple for Western activity in the East, though this is not directly thier fault. Also, the woman terrorist is not bad, she has been drawn into the situation and can't seem to find a way out of it. So although, primarily it's good between bad, it's more complicated due to the intentions and situation of the characters.