12 December 2008

Postgate


When Ben was a wee nipper we watched a fair bit of childrens tv together. For the most part, I hated it; the modern kids programmes are full of sound and fury and a completely uneccessary manic energy going nowhere. It gave me a headache and left Ben (probably) feeling bemused and over excited. It was TV designed to cater for ADHD kids in the worst possible way. When I (we) could stand it no longer, we would invariably put on something like Tales of the Riverbank with Johnny Morris or Oliver Postgate's Ivor the Engine or the Clangers and breathe a sigh of relief. These were programs with heart, soul, a storyline and above all lots and lots of space. They served me well in my childhood and they have done the same for Ben during his. There really should be a law stipulating that every half hour kids tv show must contain a minimum of ten minutes silence.


Rant over. Fairwell Oliver and thanks. We'll miss you.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Absolutely agree with you. Those programmes were (are still) wonderful.

Bagpuss was my favourite btw (I still watch it every so often) but I loved Ivor the Engine and the Clangers also - in fact they were all pure magic.