Audience Expected

-Context is key to the depiction of violence in drama. Audience acceptance of violent acts will be affected by a range of factors including transmission slot, genre, quality, integrity and the programme's pedigree.
 -Audience understand that pre-watershed drama may occasionally contain stronger scenes than normal, but believe they should be set within a moral framework and should not be gratuitous.
-Audiences dislike casual or 'normalised' aggressive behaviour in pre-watershed drama, whether in dialogue, attitude or brief scenes of violence.
-There is an audience expectation that post-watershed dramas will contain some violent scenes. However, many parents do not want to be ambushed by strong scenes immediately after 9pm, but want time for a programme to develop in order to determine its suitability for their children. Clear programme information about strong content is also important.
Audiences understand that pre-watershed drama will occasionally contain stronger scenes than normal, for example at the climax of a long-running story or on special occasions such as Christmas Day, New Year's Eve etc. However, it is important to viewers that strong scenes are not gratuitous and are set within a moral framework; they are less tolerant of scenes which appear "out of the blue" and have little editorial justification either in terms of plot or character. Additionally, viewers often believe that the consequences of violence on the life of the victim need to be shown, especially in those programmes which have particular appeal to children and young teenagers.
Soap operas carry considerable impact on the moment of transmission. Production values often mean that few strong scenes retain the power to shock post-transmission, but we should not
underestimate the ability of violence in soap operas to cause a shock at the time they are first broadcast, especially for families watching with children.
More latitude is afforded to "precinct" dramas, such as shows set in hospitals or police stations, where the subject matter is inevitably going to contain some fairly strong or violent scenes. For example, the very nature of a medical drama allows for some violence, whether accidental or deliberate, to be an intrinsic part of storylines. However, there are still limits to audiences' tolerance - prolonged violent or gory scenes or frequent strong scenes may provoke complaints despite the subject matter of the series.
In addition, audiences are more concerned about violence in realistic drama or series than in fantasy, supernatural or comedy content.