Thursday 4 October 2007

Children's TV in a state of decline

I've been saying this for a while - children's TV is nowhere near as good as it was when I was a child. Think back to all the brilliant programmes you watched when you were younger - He-man, Thundercats, MASK, Cities of Gold, Willy Fog & 80 Days Around The World, Count Duckula, Trapdoor, Transformers, Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, Inspector Gadget, The Real Ghostbusters, Dogtanian & the Three Muskerhounds and Defenders of the Earth to name just a few. I can remember all of these so vividly. Well apparently, Ofcom don't feel that today's children's programmes are very good in comparison.


The Daily Mail reports that youngsters are being fed a diet of imported cartoons and repeats. Shows made in the UK and premiered on a domestic channel account for 1% of the output. Cartoons make up 60% of programming and 83% are made abroad.


Ed Richards, Ofcom's chief executive called for a national debate on tackling the fall in quality. "This comprehensive study highlights the decline in homegrown commercial children's TV production and the revolution in young people's media consumption. Parents are understandably concerned and we now need a national debate on what measure, if any, can or should be taken."

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