Konnie Huq celebrates the very best of British children’s television, with a dazzling array of clips from some of the | dG1fZzRpdWpWc0I4bHc
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00 Kitchen skunk or wet dog!
00:02 And I never want to see you ever again!
00:06 Then Tracy Beaker hit our screens in 2002.
00:10 I'm in Newcastle to meet actor Danny Harmer,
00:13 who has grown up playing Tracy,
00:15 a young girl who spent her childhood in a care home.
00:18 First ever series. I was 12 years old.
00:21 -12 years old? -12!
00:23 -Oh, my gosh. -I'm 33.
00:25 So it was two decades ago.
00:27 Yeah, let's have a nosy.
00:29 We're on the set of the tenth series of The Dumping Ground,
00:32 a spin-off based on the home Tracy used to live in.
00:35 The first house that we ever used was actually based on a real care home
00:39 that someone had gone to visit,
00:41 and each room the kids decorated themselves,
00:43 so you could almost see their personality as you walked into the room,
00:46 which I love.
00:47 Back upstairs!
00:49 No, I'm giving that Tracy Beaker a good slap!
00:51 -Upstairs! -Leave it, Justine!
00:54 Not everyone felt it was appropriate tea time viewing.
00:59 There was a lot of controversy, actually, as well, wasn't there?
01:02 Because, you know, things like, "Bug off!"
01:04 Bug off!
01:05 And I still get it now, where parents come up to me and say,
01:08 "I banned my child from watching your programme."
01:11 I'm like, "OK."
01:12 Truth-telling.
01:13 You think you know everything, don't you?
01:15 Why is everyone asking for the truth if they can't take it?
01:18 They kind of didn't want their kids copying her behaviour.
01:22 Most people saw her as just a naughty kid,
01:24 rather than looking into why she was like that,
01:27 or why she reacted that way.
01:29 Aren't you coming out?
01:32 In a minute.
01:34 Don't see why she made a fuss.
01:36 He's nothing special.
01:37 Rather have a dad like that, visited, than no-one at all.
01:41 Are you crying?
01:43 Bug off, weed! Tracy Beaker never cries.
01:47 It's the dumping ground dust.
01:49 Gets my hay fever.
01:50 During this time, you know, there's less and less nuclear families,
01:55 family structures can be complicated,
01:57 lots of people have, you know, an absent parent or no parents.
02:02 How important do you think it is for kids to see themselves
02:05 reflected in what they watch?
02:07 I have met loads of care-experienced people that thank me
02:11 because they found that being in care was the best situation for them,
02:16 and it took them out of a very horrible situation.
02:19 Feeling better?
02:23 The Beakerverse has been on TV for over 20 years,
02:27 with a grown-up Tracy coming back onto our screens in Tracy Beaker Returns.
02:32 They wanted Tracy to come back as a care worker.
02:35 See how she kind of manages in a position of authority,
02:42 which she absolutely hated when she was younger.
02:45 She'd hate anyone telling her what to do.
02:47 Do you know my mum, Tracy Beaker?
02:49 Morning!
02:53 You'll know her if you live on the Duke Estate.
02:56 Danny then portrayed Tracy as a single parent.
03:00 This series didn't sugarcoat the problems of the world.
03:04 You can see that they are actually struggling, trying to pay bills,
03:07 trying to keep a roof over everyone's head,
03:10 and we don't back away from that. It's not all shiny and happy.
03:13 It's not all shiny and happy.
03:15 [BLANK_AUDIO]