Children need great television made in Britain

Iwas so happy to hear the announcement from BBC director-general Tony Hall yesterday that the corporation is to invest an extra £34million in to children’s television. It was music to my ears. It’s a huge, joyful leap into the future and will leave a lasting legacy for our children.

I have always been a campaigner for BBC children’s television with its charming eccentricities, humour and its unique ability to get inside the imaginations of Britain’s youngsters. Over the past 41 years I have repeatedly pleaded for its budget to be ring-fenced because the quality of programming is a marker of how much we, as a society, value our children.

The sector has long been an incubator for production and creative talent. Some of our most successful, influential and best-loved stars started on children’s television. The recent deaths of Brian Cant (Play School) and John Noakes (Blue Peter) led to a torrent of joyful memories of programmes that had a lasting impact on those who grew up with them.

Cbeebies and CBBC have made valiant efforts to keep that tradition going and both are in safe hands under the leadership of Alice Webb. Up until yesterday, however, they have struggled on limited budgets against ever-fiercer competition from the many digital children’s channels. But the mostly imported content that these dedicated channels provide just doesn’t satisfy the need for high quality, culturally sound, Uk-made programmes which our children, especially our young children, can identify with and lock into their memories.

British-made content has always been of ultra-high quality. It has sold worldwide and influenced programme makers in numerous countries, many of which are now investing huge sums in children’s shows, albeit in cartoons and other animation.

However, children need more than cartoons. They need dramas, live action and documentaries which can be viewed across all platforms. Research from Ofcom tells us that the way in which children watch content is changing and that is undoubtedly true, even though many still watch in the traditional way, on a television set in the front room. Yet, what really matters is the quality of the content, no matter how it is consumed.

Making children’s programmes is expensive which is why in Parliament I persuaded the former Chancellor George Osborne to introduce tax credits for programme makers. Hopefully yesterday’s announcement will mean even more UK productions will be commissioned.

As I always say, “childhood lasts a lifetime” and it’s those early memories of programmes such as Play School, which I also presented, which set a foundation for adulthood. Whether the audience lived in palaces or high-rise blocks, they all found stability, continuity and happiness from watching. That’s why I passionately fought for Play School not to be axed in 1988, because it was the classic and perfect programme for children. Critics today might say it was slow and simple, but that was the whole point. It gave children time to think and reflect, which is precisely what they need in the frantic world they are now growing up in.

So, who knows? The BBC might even bring it back. Mmm, I wonder what the 2017 online version might look like!

Baroness Benjamin is a Liberal Democrat peer