Greek Television Drama: Production Policies and Genre Diversification

The study of Greek television drama production trends over the last three decades reveals the importance of the local context in television production. A quantitative analysis built on samples of fiction programmes serves to portray the diachronic evolution of Greek television drama output in two respects: in terms of quantity as well as genre. These findings, combined with interviews with professionals in Greek television, have been used to analyse the economy of the production sector and to define the different policies that have guided production over the years. In this respect, the role of broadcasters turns out to be decisive. Thus, this article demonstrates how, over time, a small European country has developed different genre subtypes based on the specific necessities of local settings of production.