Children’s television was once a thriving, fantastical realm, peopled by Wombles, Tweenies and Danger Mouse – not to mention a car called Brum, an engine called Ivor and a dog called Roobarb – and British-made shows were available every day on the major terrestrial channels. Since then, the magic has largely retreated to the margins of broadcasting.
But the embattled landscape is to receive a high-profile boost from Bafta, the Observer has learned. After prolonged campaigning from influential figures such as the former PlaySchool presenter Floella Benjamin, the children’s maths whiz Johnny Ball, the Dr Who writer Russell T Davies and Anne Wood, a veteran creator of worldwide hits such as Teletubbies, Bafta is to recognise the inventive work that is still entertaining Britain’s children. The British Academy has created three high-profile awards to sit alongside the trophies it hands out to adult television shows. The new categories will go some way to replace Bafta’s abandoned children’s TV awards event.
“Children’s programme-making has been going through difficult times,” said Andrew Miller, chair of the Young Bafta Advisory Group, “but we want to recognise what I think is a current golden age of creativity, with many new inspirational and diverse programmes. Sometimes the difficulty is just tracking it all down. These new awards will help with that.”
Miller, who presented Channel 4’s Boom! in the early 90s, also emphasised the part this sector plays in generating television talent. “Many on- and off-screen creatives and practitioners owe their careers to children’s media, including me.”
This weekend, Wood, the founder of Ragdoll Productions, makers of ITV’s Rosie and Jim, as well as both the Teletubbies and In the Night Garden for the BBC, welcomed Bafta’s new support for a sector “in a parlous state”.
She recalled an earlier era, when children’s shows were annually saluted as part of Bafta’s prestigious main awards evening. “The prize was given to me in 1983 by Princess Anne on live television for Yorkshire TV’s The Book Tower. Then, later, Bafta created a whole children’s awards ceremony for a while. They couldn’t do that now, as there aren’t enough programmes to judge. I’m terribly saddened by the way so many young people just watch YouTube. The bottom has fallen out of the market.”
Wood, 86, said she had been raising her voice against the tide of American children’s shows for 30 years: “It is so frustrating. We need a political solution now too.”
Bafta’s decision follows the creation last month of a new children’s film award from next year. It was a move that may well have been prompted by the international success of the homegrown Paddington franchise, a film series inspired by the Michael Bond characters who had an earlier life on the small screen.
The new television categories will be Children’s Scripted, Children’s Non-Scripted and Children’s Craft Team, the last of which will be presented at the Television Craft Awards for technical excellence. The three categories were developed in consultation with the industry and the Young Bafta Advisory Group, and next month the recipient of a Bafta special award will also be announced, followed by a presentation at the academy’s Piccadilly HQ.
Earlier this year, Lady Benjamin received a Bafta fellowship for her broadcasting work and support of the young. This weekend, she said: “Making children feel confident, worthy and inspired through the window of imagination, and helping them learn and explore the world within the safety of their home, is one of the greatest gifts that the screen industries can offer society.”
Benjamin, a Liberal Democrat peer, also called on the new government to intervene and added: “Good quality television is under threat and children are ever more exposed to a ‘wild west’ of online adult content, which subtracts rather than adds to their overall happiness. I’m pleased to see Bafta double down on their commitment to bring this vital part of the screen arts to public attention.”
While the BBC still broadcasts on both its age-targeted channels, CBeebies and CBBC, last year ITV dropped its dedicated children’s channel. Programmes from its ITVX Kids streaming site, however, continue to be aired in the early morning on ITV2.
The need for fresh signposts to the best shows is clear for Faraz Osman, who worked on Blue Peter and now makes the CBeebies show What’s in Your Bag? at the production company Gold Wala. “The market is struggling because of competition from unrestricted online shows which are generally not made with same sense of purpose,” he said. “But programmes that win these new nominations or awards will be easier to find for those in control of the television remote. It can take things to another level if you get that recognition.”
Wood said: “Unless it is a children’s programme such as Teletubbies, that I am proud to say shook the world, then it just gets overlooked. At Rag Doll we are always trying to prompt curiosity in children – an idea built on years of experience I gained at ITV, when ITV still had an obligation to make children’s TV. Bafta are doing what they can. There’s not much else they can do.”
