Partners in crime: Transnational television’s role in the emergence and distribution of narratives of European solidarity

Abstract

Television was heralded as a catalyst of European solidarity when satellite technology arrived, but financial failure, regulatory barriers and contrived cross-border stories – defamed as ‘Europuddings’ – quickly stifled this enthusiasm. This article reconsiders television as a medium for narratives of European solidarity within today’s TV industry, policy and culture. The crime drama The Last Panthers (2015), co-produced by Sky and Canal+, serves as a case study of the interplay between economic, political and cultural Europeanization in contemporary TV production. The analysis builds on Jürgen Habermas’s reflections on crisis dynamics in late capitalist societies (1980, 2005), which informs his response to the crisis of the European Union (2012). The case study shows how the pressure of global competition on European broadcasters, the European Commission’s support for distribution of audio-visual media, and the lessons learnt from the Europudding years have created a fragile window of opportunity for narratives of transnational solidarity.