As I see it: Why CCB is killing children’s TV.
Remember “The Magic Roundabout”, or “Paddington Bear”, or further back, “Captain Pugwash”? Or “The Herbs” or the “Clangers”?
If you can you are fortunate because those belong to the days before a dedicated channel for children on TV.
These were short 5 minute “filler” programmes, put on to fill up the gap between the end of the main children’s TV at 4.55 pm and the main news at 5.00 p.m.
Ostensibly they were for children, but in fact adults, waiting for the news, also enjoyed them very much. They were so much a part of the cultural landscape that they were referenced on the TV series Porridge:
Fletcher: Hello, Dylan.
Melvyn: Hey, man, my name's Melvyn. What's this "Dylan" scene?
Fletcher: It's affectionate, not malicious. You see, you do remind us of Dylan.
BOB Dylan?
Fletcher: No, the hippy rabbit on the "Magic Roundabout".
I'm not a hippy!
Fletcher: You're the nearest thing we've got. You wear an earring. You were thrown out of art school. AND you've tie-dyed your uniform.
Mr Barraclough: So you watch "The Magic Roundabout"?
Fletcher: Yeah. There's nothing else to watch. "Magic Roundabout"? It's given innocent people a lot of pleasure! And us guilty people too! Simple pleasures are important.
But now such shows are banished to the dedicated channel – CBBC – children’s TV. It seems innocuous – after all what can be better for children than to have their own channel where you know that all the TV will be “safe”.
Back in 2013, the great change happened. The Independent reported that:
“The BBC has banished children’s television to a "ghetto" by axing the dedicated slots for programmes on BBC1 and BBC2, the creator of the hit series Teletubbies has claimed. “
“Regular weekday teatime children's programming disappeared from BBC1 before Christmas, to be replaced by ratings-boosting soaps and game-shows, ending a 60-year broadcasting tradition.”
“Favourites including Newsround and Blue Peter now air exclusively on the digital Children’s BBC channel, with CBeebies the sole home for pre-school programming”
Anne Wood said that:
“There is a certain amount of overlooking of the fact that children’s programmes do get a wider audience than people are aware of. Just as children’s literature does. In my long career, I have frequently had letters from older people who have enjoyed my programmes as much as children do. A lot of the reason older people like to watch children’s programming is because it is life-enhancing.”
And Jacqueline Wilson, author of the Tracy Beaker novels, said:
“When children’s programming was on the ordinary BBC, one might catch a little of it by chance. And I’d think, ‘Oh, that’s very sweet, and perfect family viewing.’ Whereas when children tune into CBBC or CBeebies, it’s a sort of dividing mechanism.
“If a children’s show works really well, it does have an adult audience as well as a child audience. Whenever I’m on Blue Peter, for example, the amount of adults who stop me on the street and say they saw me on the show is amazing.”
On a recent episode of Blue Peter, albeit a repeat in the afternoon, the Independent noted:
“A repeat of a past episode, which aired at 2.30pm on 13 June, is said to have been watched by nobody sparking fears for the long-running classic series which was once a significant part of British culture.”
The Huffington Post commented:
“While the episode scored an audience of 46,000 in another slot and has had 39,000 requests on BBC iPlayer, the figures are still away off the one million viewers the programme had ten years ago, when it still aired three times a week on mainstream channel BBC One. “
And the Daily Mail chipped in:
“Blue Peter, which was once watched by eight million and celebrates 50 years of handing out its iconic badge today, now attracts an average audience of just 100,000 viewers. This compares to more than 340,000 who tuned in for each episode in 2012 when it was still being shown on the BBC’s main channel.”
Blue Peter’ veteran Peter Purves (whom I remember with John Noakes and Valerie Singleton!) said:
“I think it was better when it was on mainstream television because it picked up an audience of all ages; it wasn’t just for the age group at which it was aimed which always used to be seven to 12.”
Remember “The Magic Roundabout”, or “Paddington Bear”, or further back, “Captain Pugwash”? Or “The Herbs” or the “Clangers”?
If you can you are fortunate because those belong to the days before a dedicated channel for children on TV.
These were short 5 minute “filler” programmes, put on to fill up the gap between the end of the main children’s TV at 4.55 pm and the main news at 5.00 p.m.
Ostensibly they were for children, but in fact adults, waiting for the news, also enjoyed them very much. They were so much a part of the cultural landscape that they were referenced on the TV series Porridge:
Fletcher: Hello, Dylan.
Melvyn: Hey, man, my name's Melvyn. What's this "Dylan" scene?
Fletcher: It's affectionate, not malicious. You see, you do remind us of Dylan.
BOB Dylan?
Fletcher: No, the hippy rabbit on the "Magic Roundabout".
I'm not a hippy!
Fletcher: You're the nearest thing we've got. You wear an earring. You were thrown out of art school. AND you've tie-dyed your uniform.
Mr Barraclough: So you watch "The Magic Roundabout"?
Fletcher: Yeah. There's nothing else to watch. "Magic Roundabout"? It's given innocent people a lot of pleasure! And us guilty people too! Simple pleasures are important.
But now such shows are banished to the dedicated channel – CBBC – children’s TV. It seems innocuous – after all what can be better for children than to have their own channel where you know that all the TV will be “safe”.
Back in 2013, the great change happened. The Independent reported that:
“The BBC has banished children’s television to a "ghetto" by axing the dedicated slots for programmes on BBC1 and BBC2, the creator of the hit series Teletubbies has claimed. “
“Regular weekday teatime children's programming disappeared from BBC1 before Christmas, to be replaced by ratings-boosting soaps and game-shows, ending a 60-year broadcasting tradition.”
“Favourites including Newsround and Blue Peter now air exclusively on the digital Children’s BBC channel, with CBeebies the sole home for pre-school programming”
Anne Wood said that:
“There is a certain amount of overlooking of the fact that children’s programmes do get a wider audience than people are aware of. Just as children’s literature does. In my long career, I have frequently had letters from older people who have enjoyed my programmes as much as children do. A lot of the reason older people like to watch children’s programming is because it is life-enhancing.”
And Jacqueline Wilson, author of the Tracy Beaker novels, said:
“When children’s programming was on the ordinary BBC, one might catch a little of it by chance. And I’d think, ‘Oh, that’s very sweet, and perfect family viewing.’ Whereas when children tune into CBBC or CBeebies, it’s a sort of dividing mechanism.
“If a children’s show works really well, it does have an adult audience as well as a child audience. Whenever I’m on Blue Peter, for example, the amount of adults who stop me on the street and say they saw me on the show is amazing.”
On a recent episode of Blue Peter, albeit a repeat in the afternoon, the Independent noted:
“A repeat of a past episode, which aired at 2.30pm on 13 June, is said to have been watched by nobody sparking fears for the long-running classic series which was once a significant part of British culture.”
The Huffington Post commented:
“While the episode scored an audience of 46,000 in another slot and has had 39,000 requests on BBC iPlayer, the figures are still away off the one million viewers the programme had ten years ago, when it still aired three times a week on mainstream channel BBC One. “
And the Daily Mail chipped in:
“Blue Peter, which was once watched by eight million and celebrates 50 years of handing out its iconic badge today, now attracts an average audience of just 100,000 viewers. This compares to more than 340,000 who tuned in for each episode in 2012 when it was still being shown on the BBC’s main channel.”
Blue Peter’ veteran Peter Purves (whom I remember with John Noakes and Valerie Singleton!) said:
“I think it was better when it was on mainstream television because it picked up an audience of all ages; it wasn’t just for the age group at which it was aimed which always used to be seven to 12.”
And Valerie Singleton also said:
"It is a shame. The idea of sitting around and watching one channel together at the end of the day has gone, sadly. Families are just becoming so fragmented that they will be watching different programmes in different rooms all the time."
This is an assessment which tallies with the academic publication.“The Television Handbook” (edited by Jeremy Orlebar) which says:
”In the past the mainstream TV channels scheduled children’s TV for a preschool audience in the morning aid for children after school in the afternoon up to the 5 o'clock news. “
“This had two advantages: the amount of time dedicated to children's TV was limited, therefore limiting the amount of time children could watch television; second, the programmes could be easily seen by adults a they were on the main channels. “
“Adults quickly got to know Blue Peter (BBC) and Playschool (BBC) or Rainbow (ITV). As soon as multichannel TV became ubiquitous television schedulers moved virtually all children‘s television to dedicated channels such as CBBC. Most parents in the twenty-first century have no idea what sort of programmes their children watch. Who can name the current Blue Peter presenters or their dog?”
Sadly, this analysis is all too true, and there is now a cultural divide between the generations, where children’s TV has been cut off from the adult mainstream, and placed in its own little niche. There is still some very good children’s television, although the increased time on which it is broadcast has meant that there is also a lot of dross to fill in the time.
“This had two advantages: the amount of time dedicated to children's TV was limited, therefore limiting the amount of time children could watch television; second, the programmes could be easily seen by adults a they were on the main channels. “
“Adults quickly got to know Blue Peter (BBC) and Playschool (BBC) or Rainbow (ITV). As soon as multichannel TV became ubiquitous television schedulers moved virtually all children‘s television to dedicated channels such as CBBC. Most parents in the twenty-first century have no idea what sort of programmes their children watch. Who can name the current Blue Peter presenters or their dog?”
Sadly, this analysis is all too true, and there is now a cultural divide between the generations, where children’s TV has been cut off from the adult mainstream, and placed in its own little niche. There is still some very good children’s television, although the increased time on which it is broadcast has meant that there is also a lot of dross to fill in the time.
But the good programmes are not promoted on the mainstream channels and remain tightly cocooned on their own channel. Programmes like Blue Peter or Newsround, which where intergenerational, have lost that audience, and are no longer a shared experience in the way they used to be.
And while CBBC seems dedicated to aim at older children aged 8 to 14, there is no longer any space for drama which filled a gap before the news for older teens aged 14 to 16.
Here are some of the great series of the past for older children and adults, but there were many more. I have starred those I've seen.
*Dramarama
*The Changes
*Timeslip
*Boy Dominic and Dominic
*Moonfleet
*The Box of Delights
*The Chronicles of Narnia
*Grange Hill
*Chocky
*Ace of Wands
*Five Children and It
Stig of the Dump
Children's Ward
Carrie's War
*Catweazle
*The Adventures of Black Beauty
The Feathered Serpent
King of the Castle
Sky
*The Phoenix and the Carpet
Carrie's War
*Catweazle
*The Adventures of Black Beauty
The Feathered Serpent
King of the Castle
Sky
*The Phoenix and the Carpet
*A Traveller in Time
*The Secret Garden
*Tom's Midnight Garden
*The Tomorrow PeopleReturn Of The Antelope
The Children Of Greene Knowe
Moondial
*Escape Into Night
*Children of the Stones
*Dark Season
*Century Falls
*The Sarah Jane AdventuresArthur of the Britons
Freewheelers
Sky
The Doombolt Chase
King of the Castle
*The Borrowers
The Secret World Of Polly Flint
Byker Grove
*The Demon Headmaster (and sequels)
Some drama is existing but it is a pale shadow of what came before.
The recent Sparticle Mystery, excellent Wolfblood and Hetty Feather are encouraging signs the pendulum has begun to swing back a little, but all the major broadcasters need to make more drama for children - Edward Barnes' idea of "a balanced diet of programmes" seems long gone.
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6 comments:
As soon as multichannel TV became ubiquitous television schedulers moved virtually all children‘s television to dedicated channels such as CBBC.
That's pure unmitigated garbage.
The CBBC channel was launched in 2002, and children's programming was (with one exception) removed off terrestrial channels over Christmas 2012-13. By this time satellite and cable TV had been in existence for well over 20 years and was an established part of the landscape.
The argument that moving children's TV off terrestrial took away its audience is equally ludicrous. Viewer numbers halved between 2007 and 2009 - not because of digital, but because programming was moved back to make way for The Weakest Link.
The one exception, of course, is Doctor Who - but then that's probably not worth watching if you're a grown-up these days.
So how often do adults look at CBBC in the same way they might look at children's TV on mainstream? The statistics suggest less.
And CBBC is primarily for the 6-12, and there is virtually nothing for the 12-16 bracket such as the dramas I listed.
Viewers watch what is available, but budgets get tailored to that. By moving children's TV to digital and its own channel, it got a narrow age demographic, and in turn that meant the gap.
Between 12-16 got virtually nothing and dropped out. The appetite for good drama is there but there is none, and on mainstream BBC1 / BBC2 as well as CBBC, the trend is for cheap reality TV shows - quiz or other consumer program - which costs less.
BBC Children's Trust has this to say on content:
A reasonable service, but less successful with its target audience, achieving only an average weekly reach of 32%. We appreciate that this is a more diverse audience than that of CBeebies, but feel CBBC should be able to achieve more.
CBBC covers all genres, and on the whole the mix is reasonably good, although factual remains under represented with too much reliance on long running series like Horrible Histories and Deadly. Excellent new shows like My Life have very short runs - only seven half hours a year.
There is a similar problem in drama where despite excellent new series like Wolfblood and Wizards v Aliens there appears to be an over reliance on scripted comedy shows and long running series like Tracy Beaker now morphing into Dumping Ground.
There is obviously great value in known brands but too much dependence can lead to a lack of innovation, and stifle the development of new talent, which is a vital role for a public service provider.
We are also concerned that apart from Tracy Beaker and The Dumping Ground and the recent short series Post Code, there is very little contemporary, challenging drama reflecting today’s society, in which children can see and hear a wide range of their peers.
"The BBC's own research suggests that older children might be more attracted to watching CBBC's older skewing content if it were shown on other BBC channels," said the trust.
And lastly - note the lack of anything for 12-16 age range now!
We are also concerned about the upper end of the CBBC target age range - the 9 to 12 audience. We believe that in reality there is very little content which is relevant to this audience. For example Newsround is no longer delivering content to 10+. Channel 4 has a remit to cater for the 10+ age-range, but does very little to fulfil it at present.
We believe that this problem continues in the 12 to 16 age group. We understand that this is not the remit of BBC Children’s, but nor does it appear to be anyone else’s.
On Doctor Who, as you should well be aware, it is not and never has been part of the Children's Department at the BBC, but comes under the Drama department.
If you missed the last season with Peter Capaldi, you don't know how good it still is.
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