Living near Sellafield had been an interesting experience for all of them growing up; fate and genetics had conspired to shape them all exactly like numbers. So, what’s the obvious thing to do when you have eight fellow numerically shaped and named mutants, and you’re shunned by society as a whole? You set up a high-tech base of operations inside a sofa, and get information on world events through a clever combination of the internet and child labour, and this is precisely what they had done. Their ranks were now about to swell, as they welcomed their newest member, Pi To Three Hundred Digits. One thing was for sure… they needed a bigger sofa.

That was an example of the deconstructions/reconstructions I write of children’s TV shows on my blog, Dystopian Fuchsia. Children’s Television: The Re-Imagining started as a status update on Facebook, and due to positive response, kept growing. People have asked me why I bother doing them; why single out children’s TV shows? The answer is simple: love. I love children’s TV. Always have done, always will do. I believe that it’s so utterly important in shaping our children’s delicate, sponge-like brains, that it shouldn’t be taken so lightly.

My son was born in 2003, and I suddenly found myself using him as an excuse to buy ‘cult kids’ DVDs that started getting released. What better way to use my staff discount at a major entertainment retailer (my blog’s name is a subtle little dig at them, by the way) than by buying Trumpton, Willo The Wisp and The Flumps? Fellow staff members asked me why I was bothering. I told them that I wanted my son to have the same disadvantages that I had growing up.

I didn’t mean it (please forgive me, O Lord Windy Miller)… these shows, I used to watch when I was a nipper, and hold many happy memories for me. Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be, some might say. Pah. Old kids TV shows (by and large) had soul, spirit, and a quirky sense of humour that grown-ups could appreciate. They were often made by very small teams of people, and were cutting edge in their time. They were the new rock ‘n’ roll that slipped by under a lot of radars. For those of us that watched them, they left a lasting impression, and created a generation of free-thinkers. Some of us survived the experience better than others.

As I sit down with my kids now, watching what they have to watch, I’m saddened most of the time. Nowadays, kids shows are made by committee. Sometimes, they get it right… I can watch Cbeebies with my daughter any day of the week, and experience everything from the sublime (Charlie and Lola, one of the closest shows to what I used to watch) to the ridiculous (dirtgirlworld – read my blog here to see what I think of it… contains cussing, be warned). I can’t help but wonder if my kids will have the same sense of nostalgic glee with these shows when they’re a cynical 30-something.

Finally, a sense of nostalgia hit me when watching a very unlikely source. In The Night Garden… has had a lot of detractors (it was my first ever Children’s Television: The Re-Imagining entry), but I think it’s opening sequence and closing credits sequences are beautiful. They reminded me a lot of ‘classic’ kids TV. High praise indeed from this cynical old curmudgeon. If I have one piece of advice for any parent, it would be to not foist any old rubbish onto your kids. They’re a lot more discerning than you may realise… and they’re the bloggers of the future, lest we forget.

This is a guest post by Ian Hewett

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