Am I a bit thick or are some TV dramas incredibly complex?

Because I suffer from face blindness I’m very easily confused at the best of times! Two men of a similar age with dark hair for example, and I’m already lost. What doesn’t help is when a series is say, six episodes over six weeks. By week two I’ve already forgotten week one. I would give up if my DH did’nt keep me up to speed. Also, to fill six hours I suppose plots have to be complicated, but I really struggle!

I think some of these problems are due to (our) age but there is definitely an issue with sound quality and sometimes light quality. Also with the plots being too weird and complicated. It's not just our age! They really need to do better but can't unless they have the skills to do so.

It is the mumbling that gets me. I know I am not deaf. The plots are beyond complicated some times.

I’m so relieved it’s not just me!

I agree totally with the posters that mention 2 characters that look so similar and the confusion it creates.

I have a theory that the casting directors require a certain look for the lead so loads of ripped dark 36 year old men turn up for audition and they give 1 the lead and at least one other a more minor role!

We watched and loved A Spy Among Friends on ITVX but agreed after each episode that we'd understood about 50%. So many scenes in the dark, so many men who looked the same, too much incutting between time and place. Are we in Beirut, Moscow or London? I don't think it's our age.

I give up with TV drama! It all seems so complicated and often about very dreary or upsetting topics that I don’t care to watch. There is the occasional series or film that engages me and those are often based on fact. I prefer to engage what brain I have left with a good documentary. Whether historical or current, I feel it’s been worth my time to try and understand the world around me now or how it got here! The ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ gets more difficult for me as I get older, although I still enjoy a good well written novel. And romcom films can be fun if I’m in the mood!

Like many of you, I use subtitles and pause to read the text messages or letters that they show on the screen (how do they think anyone could read that fast?). I have only recently come to watch the latest series of Strike and have completely fallen in love with the story (especially the 'will they- won't they' between the two main characters). Then I found the previous series on iPlayer and have been watching them, but especially the one I watched this weekend 'Lethal White' and when it finished, I not only had no idea who the culprit was, I wasn't even sure which crime he had committed! I will probably re-watch it and take notes! I also watched Silent Witness for the first time last year, but tried again with the new series and have given up!

Hi Sago,
I am with you and it seems others, which makes me feel a tad better. My husband and I are watching Slow Horses at the moment and I’ve struggled with each episode despite my best effort. My H says we all need him because he pauses the drama and explains anything I’m stuck with. Patronising? No, just kind 😀

I don't watch TV but I do find plots in audiobooka, radio plays and books harder to follow. I try and make the effort to understand and will go back over it if necessary because I don't like to think that my brain is getting lazy and/or senile.

I agree modern TV dramas are far too complicated. Too many multi-plots. Did anyone actually follow 'The English'? They're trying to be too clever with plots that jump about in time.

Ah well, I'll just have to settle for another Rail Journey!

Some do seem over complicate but it's the mumbling that gets to me. At times I have to raise the sound to 3 times usual level to hear anything then if adverts come on I have jump on the controls before the roof takes off. Don't mention all the dimly lit scenes, nightmare.

I often have to use subtitles because of muffled speech and too loud music. I have an extra problem as most TV I watch is in Spanish as my DH doesn't speak English, and the Spanish subtitles don't coincide with the dubbed speech! It's positively disconcerting, and as bad as listening in Spanish and reading English subtitles. I often have to stop and ask my husband for clarification. It's very annoying.

I agree completely. I've been watching DCI Banks, each story has two episodes, and I have never watched it before. And Howard's Way for a bit of washing over you 80s glamour!

I read somewhere that'appropriate music' is commissioned to add to the drama of the situation. Trouble is.... the music ( which I don't feel adds anything to the plot). drowns out the actual spoken word.
I am not deaf either.... Please let me hear clearly and I am able to assess what is going on and even intertpret for myself
In many cases as plots are becoming too convoluted now

Happy Valley has a very entertaining podcast on bbc I player “obsessed with happy valley” I would recommend watching happy valley and listening to podcast after each episode. Then complicated plot becomes interesting
Apologies if someone else has already said this I’m dyslexic and reading whole thread too much x

I too sometimes (quite often ) wish that writers, both of books and TV series and films would follow the advice given to the White Rabbit:"Start at the beginning, go on till you reach the end, then stop."

By now, there is nothing new and exciting in all these flash-backs to a character's former career, love affair to his or her childhood. They mainly serve to confuse the issue.

Two many film actors dress and speak alike, which does not make following or remembering who is who any easier.

I'm glad it's not just me. I rarely watch TV dramas now. Too many characters, time frames, sub plots, mumbled speech and the thing I find most irritating: dark photography and scenes that are impossible to see what is happening. I used to like Silent Witness but the storylines of the current series are far too complicated and frankly unbelievable.

Anyone know what ' His Dark Material ' is all about and can enlighten me please!

I love the dramas with complicated plots because they make me think. Series like "Tinker, Tailor Soldier Spy" and "Line of Duty" really draw me in. I like a plot with plenty of twists and turns.

Much TV is so light and fluffy that watching is a passive activity. If a program hasnt caught my attention witin the first 10 minutes or so I usually switch off.

We watch everything with subtitles nowadays. What is the obsession with filming in the dark- you can’t see what is going on? Hate the loud music. Dislike flips in dates and places. Dramas where the characters look very alike confuse me. Currently watching Miss Marple whilst typing this and all the faces are so different from each other and lovely easily followed plots.

Silent Witness is another series I used to watch but definitely not this series.

I gave up on the tourist. Didn’t like it at all. But I thought light in the hall was good. Am watching without sin at the moment and don’t know what to make of it.

Its my impression authors of TV drama or books think its clever to have a complex plot, but I think the opposite. The purpose of drama or literature or novels is to communicate with the audience, if half of them havent understood you then you havent communicated. I watched some old Dixon of Dock Green on You Tube recently and they were crystal clear, but also quite thought provoking. The drama was able to communicate something worth thinking about because you could understand the message well enough to have brain capacity to spare for the bigger issues. Much better.

I must admit I can't really think of anything where I found the plot too complicated to follow. I love all the twists and turns. I can think of a few where the lighting was so dark that at times it was a struggle to see what was going on though.

We have been having a lot of trouble with mumbled drama. The other day I found a setting on our smart TV for ''clear voice'' and it is unbelievable what a difference it has made. No more fiddling with the remote to increase/ decrease the volume. We are both actually understanding what is going on at last.

me too