Children's television has been a treasured part of British TV for a long time - from quietly Watching With Mother, through the bright colours of the Broom Cupboard and into Dick and Dom‛s crazy Bungalow. But this has all come under threat in recent months, if not recent years, with a distinct lack of anything to take the edge off a Saturday morning or distract the kids in the after school slot.
With cutbacks across the networks, it means dedicated children's scheduling has suffered severely and is being whittled away to make room for the more profitable afternoon and early evening light entertainment shows. Last year, it was reported that ITV made the decision not to commission any more new children's programmes and reportedly, the BBC followed suit, owing to their own recent cutbacks. Instead, ITV will show only repeats and American imports and have already cut out the after school schedule, leaving it to their digital channel CITV to entertain. A recent OFCOM survey of parents has found that there is a serious concern about the lack of home-grown children's entertainment but unfortunately it seems that British kids television is dying a slow death.
These recent cutbacks have particularly shed a light on the amount of American programming for children there is on our screens. Nowadays 90% of the children's shows on TV, digital and satellite are American and as such this puts into question why we have not had such a stronghold with our own programming. The love affair with US kid's television started when the ITV channel was launched in 1955. They saw that the BBC children's schedule did not include any American programmes and grabbed the opportunity to wow audiences with the promise of action and adventure. At the time Freda Lingstrom ran the BBC children's department (developing Muffin the Mule and Andy Pandy amongst others) and she preferred to keep programming British. This was to keep original programming at the forefront of the schedule and to maintain an educational element where possible. The BBC still managed to attract a keen audience, competing with ITV for many years but consistently winning with their unique take on educational TV. Blue Peter became an institution that lives to this day and ITV had nothing that even compared.
But even home-grown children's television has managed to cause controversy over the years. In the 1960s, parents showed concern over their children watching the Flower Pot Men. The gibberish "flobba-dob" language wasn't seen to encourage the speaking skills of children and there were many complaints made throughout its 20 year run. Even a few years ago, parents had the same complaint about the Teletubbies, claiming they did not see the educational benefit of a show that had language they branded ‛a load of nonsense'. The problem was further impounded by the fact that one of the male characters carried a handbag, making one American religious group claim they were encouraging a ‛gay' lifestyle.
Pushing these ‛issues' aside, the important thing to question is whether children watch too much television in the first place. Now we have digital channels dedicated solely to children's programming it is not uncommon for some parents to put their kids in front of the telly all day. Statistics show that on average children watch 2.5 hours of television a day, despite the fact that we are constantly told that anything over 2 hours can be harming to a child's health. As a result, it is no wonder that this has become such a major issue for some parents. It's hard to imagine a time when the BBC had the "toddlers truce" - where programming went off air every night for an hour after children's TV and before evening scheduling began. Simpler times meant simpler lives but it is evident that we could never achieve that now in our 24/7 world.
Mother of three Tamsin Keeling says "I let my girls watch TV, but only a max of 1 hour per day. I prefer British kids TV. Shows like Blue Peter, Tracy Beaker and My Parents Are Aliens seem to be more stimulating and intelligently written. American kids programmes are all crappy, cheap cartoons that don't encourage kids to think much". With children under five, she is a mum who has concerns like every parent about what they let their children watch. "Nowadays they just seem to churn out any old rubbish, as long as it's bright and colourful. My kids watch DVDs quite a lot but I prefer that as it means I can check them first".
Young children are undoubtedly the most impressionable people who watch television. While still developing their body and minds, they are influenced by everything they see and hear. It seems that there has to be some responsibility taken for the programming that remains on our screens but unfortunately parents will continue to be the censor for what their own child is left open to. We are left to mourn the loss of some great programmes, so say goodbye to your Art Attacks, put your sticky back plastic in the cupboard and don't try to say "I'll have a ‛P' please Bob" - because he simply won't hear you.
