BBC is our last hope for saving children’s TV, says Children’s Laureate

The BBC is “our last hope” for ensuring the creation of high quality children’s TV, Children’s Laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce has said.

The author and screenwriter appeared before the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Tuesday alongside Greg Childs, director of Children’s Media Foundation, who said the “industry is broken and broke”, adding that “we are stuck in a groove in that, pretty much, now the only funder in this country, and in a lot of European countries, is the public service broadcaster”.

Childs also said that “YouTube has captured the eyes of the nation” and spoke of a decrease in engagement in children’s TV, “advertiser flight”, and the need for a funding support model.

Cottrell-Boyce, 66, also spoke about the popularity of YouTube, as well as the loss of live action children’s TV when he gave evidence during the Committee’s opening session into its inquiry on children’s TV and video content.

He said: “I mentioned in passing, the importance of live action in children’s (TV), which is… that’s almost dead.

“That’s like me calling for a regeneration of scrimshaw or thatching. You know, it’s gone, live action.

“Where do working class boys see themselves in our media? Who therefore is able to address working class boys? And I’m just using them as an example.

“If we vacate the space, it doesn’t stay empty. And I don’t think this is not fixable… It can be done.”

Asked who would make children’s TV to a high quality if there was no BBC, he added: “Nothing (would happen), it would just be an empty space. They are our last hope.”

He also spoke of the limitation of YouTube and said it is “one of those things that presents the illusion of choice, but because it’s algorithmically driven you default to more and more of the same choices.”

The evidence session comes after the Committee discussed, in private, the letter received from BBC chairman Samir Shah on Monday, who apologised for an “error of judgment” over the editing of a speech by US President Donald Trump for Panorama.