"What Remains" Analysis

Overall, there are many things that change between scripts and the overall product, and there are many different reasons to why this could happen. To research this further, I am going to analyse the first episode of "What Remains" to see what changed between the actual produced episode and the original script.

Firstly, earlier on in the episode, there is a scene between the teenage boy Adam, and a girl who enters his flat, named 'Peri' in the script. In the script, after the scene when the inspector Len visits Adam in his house, there is another scene between Adam and Peri where they are in the flat alone.
I believe that they decided to omit this scenes because overall it is not needed or of any use to the audience. These characters are background characters, and the information that they give in the scene is not important and doesn't add anything extra. Also, the audience could most likely already guess that this kind of scene would happen afterwards, judging by the fact that Adam has said that his parents are at 'work' and his rebellious attitude.
I personally also find this scene rather random and quite short for what it is.

The next scenes was an extra scene at the police station (right) giving information about another case about a nightclub shooting. This scene was omitted completely and cuts straight to the next scene of Len talking with Joe about the Melissa case instead.
I believe this scene was removed because, again, it isn't needed. A new case is irrelevant and overall isn't adding any information about the characters or Melissa's case. The only point it is adding is that it is backing up the point that Len is meant to be retiring, and the fact that it hasn't completely sunk in with him. However, the audience probably knows this already from previous scenes already.
I also think that the audience would already know that this is a general scene at his work- 'busy' and 'a lot of activity', therefore this kind of representation is probably a waste of time.











Shortly after this scene, there is another that is omitted (left). There is a scene between Vidya and her Dad, and this also links to another scene that was omitted later on, between Vidya's Dad and Michael (Vidya's boyfriend). This means that the entire character of Vidya's Dad has been removed. My opinion is that this was a good idea, although this removes some information about Vidya's family life and her relationship between her and her Dad.
I feel that they probably removed this scene because as, us the audience, we want to focus on Melissa's case and we aren't really concerned about the background of the characters as much- although it would be nice to see and would provide some interesting information.
















This other scene between Vidya's Dad and Michael (left) as mentioned was also not included in the final product. I think this decision was good as I personally don't like the interaction and atmosphere shown in the script between these two, and it gave off the idea that their relationship isn't good at all. Even though this would most likely build the characters up more, I still think it was a good idea these scenes were removed. Plus, the extra character would be too much as we want the audience to focus on the people in the flat themselves and Melissa's case.

I have also noticed that sometimes only very short segments and sometimes even single lines are changed or omitted, such as this. After Len gets Vidya to call 'help! help!' for a test, he goes and thanks her for helping- however this particular part has been removed from the overall episode. This added part and particular scene isn't needed as the audience can already guess that this would happen (Len helping Vidya back down the ladder and the fact that nobody would ignore a cry for help).