BBC's director of children and education talks TV landscape: "We are standing alone right now"

This article first appeared in Radio Times Magazine.

What’s the role of children’s television?

Children are affected by what they see. You need to give them something that doesn’t just entertain but helps them grow, develop their identity and their own sense of the world. I think society has lost understanding of the importance of this genre.

Should parents be concerned about reducing screen time?

The struggle now is that, with the bombardment of all kinds of content coming our way, parents haven’t really understood the difference between content made specifically with children in mind, and content that might look like it’s for children but hasn’t been made for them properly. It’s not just about stopping kids using screens, it’s what’s on the screens. Screen time can be enriching if it’s the right kind of content and done in moderation.

What do you think of some of the children’s content on YouTube?

We worry about that all the time. There’s a huge amount of influence from the US. The majority of content won’t be culturally relevant.

Does children’s television have a role to play when it comes to children’s mental health?

Absolutely. One of the reasons we brought back Balamory was because it showed children what a healthy community looks like. It’s very tangible. You meet the policeman, the shopkeeper, the teacher, Miss Hoolie, and everybody comes together. Everybody is kind and helps each other. Some children are not experiencing that any more.

How do you answer critics who say there’s not enough family content on the BBC?

We’ve got a lot of broad family content. The Traitors is a huge hit with families. Gladiators is one of our biggest shows with kids and families. Natural history programmes, sport and football… Crookhaven launched recently and we’re very proud of the fact that it’s bringing families together. We’re looking at investing in this type of content for families. We want to create more moments where families can sit down together and enjoy something new that’s made in the UK.

What are you most proud of currently?

Nobody talks about live-linear viewing, but CBeebies is very strong. We’re also very proud to have grown children’s content on iPlayer for the last five years. I worry about talking about individual shows because it’s like having favourites, but two shows have just launched – Duck and Frog is this very funny British slapstick comedy, and Rafi the Wishing Wizard is an animation set in Manchester. We get great letters from viewers saying they love that.

Do you want to see more competition in the industry?

We are standing alone right now, and things need to be done very quickly because you cannot sustain an industry with just one player. We need to increase tax incentives for making children’s content in the UK. It’s important to have your eyes open to the world, to different cultures – American sitcoms are fantastic, but what we can’t have is an imbalance. I wish somebody would pitch us the British Simpsons.

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