... or, the best thing I’ve seen on TV all year so far.

This is a season of programmes that BBC Four have been showing throughout this week covering just about every nook and cranny of (predominantly British – though obviously the more high-profile imports get touched upon) children’s television way back to its dawn in the 1950s.

It began with “The Kids’ Verdict” – four 10-year-olds, 2 boys, 2 girls, one room, one TV, watching programmes aimed at their demographic from each of the 5 decades (the 2000s didn’t really get a look in), with the nice touch of their clothing and surroundings changing with each timeshift, followed by their giving an opinion of what they’d seen. At times they were a little frighteningly smart-assed and cynical but I think really they’d been specially picked for this quality as it served the overarching message of the season well. It was amazing to see, though, that even when they hit the prim, proper, and black-and-white Fifties, one or two of the kids still seemed to get a genuine kick out of some of the ancient entertainment, and they were often able to easily pick out the similarities between old shows and the ones they’re more familiar (the whole windows imagery of “Playskool” and “Tikkabilla”, for instance).

This was followed by “Goodbye Children Everywhere” – a look at how in the digital age, children’s TV is being forced off onto specially targeted channels, a dream for advertisers, children being turned into commercial sponges, and the actual shows suffering as a result.

The centrepiece of the whole week was a new five-part series, again, one episode for every decade, one whole hour full of clips and interviews, all of it fascinating, but of course everyone will have their own decade of most interest.

Other shorter shows, some old, some new, have been scattered throughout – two programmes focussing on Blue Peter’s Biddy Baxter and John Noakes; a few on animation; a documentary about the changes taking place in teenage bedrooms (ooh-err, phrased that a bit wrong, lol – actually this one was pretty amazing); one called “From Grange Hill to Eastenders”, one on children’s news over the years; a few episodes of “The Clangers” and “The Story of Magic Roundabout”; Mark Lawson met the Teletubbies (well, their creators – yes, I was disappointed too), and “When the Stranglers met Roland Rat”; I’ve probably even missed a few things.

In short, just brilliant. If there was a reason I bought a DVD recorder last year, then this is it. This goes up there with “Shrink Rap” as one of the best things I’ve seen on TV in 2007.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 1st, 2007 at 12:45 am in TV. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.