A fully resourced 7-lesson unit for SMP 7: Doctor Who – Episode Study, designed to build students’ confidence with television narrative analysis, Sci-Fi genre conventions and exam-style media responses through the study of the Doctor Who episode Kerblam!.

This unit is highly ESL-friendly, featuring:

A consistent lesson and presentation structure throughout
Clear iconography and visual scaffolding to support accessibility
Embedded literacy and vocabulary support within every lesson
Repetition of analytical terminology and exam command language
Scaffolded writing structures, model responses and guided practice tasks

The unit combines episode comprehension with analytical skill-building, allowing students to gradually move from narrative understanding to more confident independent media analysis.

Every lesson is aligned directly to exam practice outcomes, helping students develop skills for:

Q1.1 and Q1.2 retrieval and understanding
Q1.3 analysis responses
Q1.4 narrative analysis responses
Q2 thematic exploration and explanation

The unit explores:

Key characters, settings and narrative events in Kerblam!
Sci-Fi genre conventions and audience appeal
Narrative techniques and linear storytelling
Non-verbal codes and conventions
Themes, ideology and societal issues
Connections between SMP 6 and SMP 7 media concepts

Students develop analytical and evaluative skills through:

Guided viewing and comprehension activities
Recall and retrieval practice using mini whiteboards
Plot sequencing and matching tasks
Narrative technique analysis
Non-verbal code analysis
Structured Q1.3, Q1.4 and Q2 exam writing practice
Self and peer assessment against success criteria

A key focus of the unit is helping students apply media terminology with confidence through repeated, scaffolded practice. Lessons gradually transition students from identifying narrative and genre conventions to independently constructing analytical exam responses using models and live feedback.

Support materials include:

Retrieval quizzes and matching activities
Plot ordering tasks
Gap-fill convention activities
Model exam responses
Structured analytical writing scaffolds
Success criteria guidance
Vocabulary and syntactic structure drills
Self and peer assessment opportunities

The adaptable structure means episodes or television extracts can easily be switched out for alternative Sci-Fi texts while maintaining the same progression of analytical skills, genre understanding and curriculum alignment.

Lessons are fully mapped against the curriculum framework, with the accompanying curriculum map also available separately for purchase.