Watching with auntie

Though I cannot in all honesty pretend that I shall be staying in to watch this televisual feast, the BBC is surely on to something in its celebration of  the children’s television it has offered over the decades. There is something quintessentially British about what we offer our kids on telly – as any parent will tell you, CBeebies is very different to all the US channels you get on satellite. It is something to do with the indomitability of the educational, Reithian impulse. BBC children’s presenters all seem to suffer from Attention Deficit Disorder and St Vitas Dance these days, and to wear day-glo everything. But their traditional role – as Enid Blyton era teachers – hasn’t changed at all. And who needs Al Gore when you can have the Wombles?