Engaging Andy socks it to ’em with his wholesome messages
little while ago we took our boys to the Natural History Museum for the first time, expecting them to be bowled over by the dinosaurs or one of the other many wonders that the museum contains.
But what excited them most? It was a grandfather clock which sits in a hallway just outside the main cafeteria.
Many people walk past it without a second glance.
But they probably don’t have young children, because anyone who does would know that it is used by Andy
Day, the eponymous hero of Andy’s on CBeebies, to travel through time.
Once upon a time children’s TV was neatly corralled into the
slot, which over the decades expanded into the post-school/predinner space, with the earlier shows catering for the younger audience before moving into the territory of and
for the secondaryschool
Aset.
But since the rise of digital TV and the decision of our main networks to parcel their children’s programming onto separate stations (and in ITV’s case they recently went fully streaming, switching off their children’s Freeview channel), those without children have largely been able to exist in blissful ignorance of what’s going on ‘over there’.
Most, I am sure (and I know prechildren I was) are quite happy with that arrangement. However, those with youngsters probably spend more time in the company of CBeebies and its hosts than they would care to. Yeah, yeah, TV is terrible for our offspring, and of course we should all ration their screen time.
Then of course there is the reality of tired and busy parents welcoming the relief the bigscreen babysitter brings...
If we must rely on it, then there are far worse options than CBeebies. Some of the other Freeview/digital channels aimed at children on the far reaches of the schedule are utterly awful (don’t even start me on Pop!
The ubiquitous Andy Day bestrides the station like a colossus, and at 6ft 4ins he is actually pretty tall. According to Wikipedia – not an authoritative source, admittedly – he has 18 CBeebies shows to his name. Indeed many of them literally feature his name – aside from the aforementioned
– there’s
and... you get the idea.
And God bless ’em, these shows conform to the Reithian values of: inform, educate and entertain – covering all the bases without talking down to their audience so they’re not intolerable for grown-ups – in reasonable doses.
Not only that, but he’s also been one of the station’s hosts, appearing in the studio links between shows, since 2007. In recent years he has begun to focus more on one of the other strings to his bow –
Naturally they have their own show, too, Andy and The Band, which appears on sister station, CBBC – aimed at the six-15 bracket, so our boys graduated to the ’big kids’ channel with him.
These cartoonish characters made flesh (guitarist Rio, bassist Blue, drummer Moxy and Cousin Mac on keys), travel around in their tour bus, which is like a cross between the Tardis and The Mystery machine, playing gigs, having adventures and solving mysteries. Think but, erm, without Scooby Doo. With an underlying ethos of inclusion (wearing odd socks is a symbol of anti-bullying week) and acceptance, they also play some ruddy good songs.
Some have a worthy message: Choose Respect, Unique, Be Yourself, et al. Others revel in their silliness – Groovy Hoover, Dinosaur Football Legends Mega Match, Action Mum or Ninja Pig. They’ve even covered Sham’s 69 for an anti-bullying campaign. Their three CDs have been hammered hard on car journeys – it’s music we can enjoy as a family.
And they exist outside of TV – we’ve seen them both years they’ve come to Victorious Festival, and I can say without shame that they were one of MY highlights of their respective weekends, never mind what my boys thought. Many indie bands and too-cool-for-school dour post-punks could learn a thing or two about audience engagement from Andy and co. They’re on tour this month too, and we’re going to see them in half-term. I really am looking forward to it. I am even listening to them by choice as I type this...