Sharing childhood faves with my kids has its ups and downs – but I know it takes them places Netflix or Disney won’t

Sharing childhood faves with the kids can be one of the most rewarding and most disappointing parts of parenthood. I will admit that one of the main reasons I was keen to start a family was to indoctrinate a new generation in the film, TV and music that has meant so much to me. Part of this was the arguably noble impulse to share great art with young minds. Part of it was wanting to experience the joy of those young minds discovering things I’d loved at their age. And, yes, part of it was me wanting to drag out my old Doctor Who DVDs.

These viewing sessions haven’t always gone to plan. The kids were unmoved by ET – the first time I watched this as an adult I was so distraught that when my wife returned from a night out she assumed a parent had died – but adored Flight of the Navigator, which had left no impression on me. For years our girls re-enacted the single dramatic scene from The Railway Children but could I get them excited about Krull or The Goonies? Reader, I could not.

Often I’ve come away with a new appreciation for films and telly I’d originally dismissed. But this unpredictability makes it all the sweeter when something does connect across the generations. The latest – and possibly greatest – has been Steven Moffat’s Press Gang, in which Julia Sawalha’s fierce and flawed Lynda Day runs a newspaper staffed by high school students.

Watching the impact the show is having on our tweens has been something of a revelation. Yes, Lynda remains one of the best female characters – dare I say role models? – ever to grace a TV screen. And yes, the writing feels as sharp and brilliant as ever.

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It’s also probably funnier than any