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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Comic Relief before 9pm

292 replies

TittyGolightly · 25/03/2017 08:14

6 year old DC came out of school full of Comic Relief chatter and asked to donate their week's pocket money to the charity. Fine and dandy, we switched on at about 8pm and they showed a short film about a child and their grandmother collecting rubbish in Nairobi. DC was even keener to donate, so we texted in to donate money from all of us. Watched a couple of skits and then they showed a video of a 13 month old girl dying of malaria. Actually dying on the screen despite CPR and being put into a body bag and wheeled away. You can imagine the effect that had on a 6 year old. We've been up half the night with them having nightmares about dying babies.

AIBU to think that wasn't suitable viewing pre-watershed?

OP posts:
AndKnowItsSeven · 25/03/2017 12:45

It's wasn't judgemental, it was in direct response to the op post that she knows no six year olds at all that go to bed at 8pm. Ever.

Original poster
TittyGolightly · 25/03/2017 12:50

Is that what I said? My DC's close group of school friends are up until at least 8pm. The children from our antenatal group don't go to bed before 8:30pm. All of her cousins are younger, but even the almost 6 year olds aren't in bed before 8pm.

DC would have to be ill to be in bed at that time. It suits us though, so frankly, it's got fuck all to do with you.

OP posts:
StealingYourWiFi · 25/03/2017 12:51

I also noted a comment between two female presenters. One was sitting down pretending to cry, the other approached her and said "what's wrong? Have you got some sort of disease?" Confused seeing as some of the show was focused on malaria related death I found it a bit odd.

Sahara123 · 25/03/2017 12:53

Well, I'm just grateful to anyone who donates to charity, I'm just off to collect daughter from partly Comic Relief funded group, which has allowed me to have a couple of hours to sit in a cafe & have a coffee, which I wouldn't be able to do otherwise!

DioneTheDiabolist · 25/03/2017 13:13

The 8-9 o'clock slot on television is often unsuitable for small children. CR's raison d'etre is deeply upsetting so YABU OP.

NoMoreAngstPls · 25/03/2017 13:19

Totally agree OP. and some of the 'comedy ' I saw before 9 was not only cringe-worthy and unfunny, but also inappropriate ('innuendo bingo').

AndKnowItsSeven · 25/03/2017 13:28

Wow op you sound stressed in your last post. May I suggest an early night.

FanDabbyFloozy · 25/03/2017 13:33

I was cross at the sketch with the man in a kilt with his (fake) willy hanging out. Is that funny when a 6 year old copies him on Monday? Doubt it as it wasn't even funny last night. I sent my kids to bed then.

I did donate but to Mary's Meals. The whole thing put me off CR.

harleysmammy · 25/03/2017 13:33

Theres a channel switch button and an off button for a reason. Comic relief is to raise awareness and every one knows that, you shouldn't have let her continue to watch it. Comic relief clips arent about us, they're about that poor dying kid.

thebakerwithboobs · 25/03/2017 13:34

OP, I agree with you in terms of content-not so much the death actually, as the other pre-watershed content. I'm a head teacher and we spent the day yesterday having fun in the name of charity. We had tape from previous comic relief years which we showed to ensure they were age appropriate and had a charity visit the school which had received CR funding. We talked about vaccinations and how they are taken for granted here-even our reception children could tell us about scratches from needles to keep them healthy. The children dressed up, sold cakes, played games and so on. They left, as every time, on a high although understanding at a level appropriate for their ages what they were raising money for. Most of the children I spoke to were allowed to stay up late for a bit of CR, until around 9, a time chosen for the watershed I am assuming. Innuendo bingo was inappropriate, Vic Reeves was inappropriate, Ed Sheeran's comment was quick and easily missed but he still stuck his fingers up at the watershed. He was moved, clearly, and did great things, but had specifically been asked to protect the young audience and I didn't actually feel it added anything to his already harrowing footage. For those saying OP could have switched off, the watershed should surely allow us to get up and make a cup of tea, for example, with the children still watching and know it's appropriate? I understand all of the comments about the hard hitting issues CR deals with, of course I do, but actually, the marketing of their events is targeted very much at children. They expect children to get involved and be passionate and want to have fun-hence 'comic' relief. If they are going to target the very young as their audience and fundraisers, I think they should treat them with more respect than the show did last night.

AndKnowItsSeven · 25/03/2017 13:37

Ed Sheeran comment was after the watershed. He said the additional upsetting information wasn't included in the video as it was also shown pre watershed.

Original poster
TittyGolightly · 25/03/2017 13:41

Wow op you sound stressed in your last post. May I suggest an early night.

Don't need one. I get a lie in every day. Grin

OP posts:
thebakerwithboobs · 25/03/2017 13:42

Seven it was definitely pre-watershed. Only just, it has to said, but it was before 9.

AndKnowItsSeven · 25/03/2017 13:47

Oh ok baker wonder why he said it wasn't it included in video due to watershed then.

AndKnowItsSeven · 25/03/2017 13:49

Really op, expect a call from the education welfare officer then.

thebakerwithboobs · 25/03/2017 13:51

I think he said he hadn't been allowed to include it in the VT as it was before the watershed but he felt it was important so he was going to say it anyway. His strength of feeling was palpable and I genuinely felt for him but I also feel there's a line that was crossed-not so much by him really (it was about 20:55 by this point) but by the scheduled content of 'comedy' beforehand.

Original poster
TittyGolightly · 25/03/2017 13:53

?????

DC is in school at the required time every day. (Although as formal school isn't a legal requirement for any child in the U.K., and DC could be home educated and in bed until any time she liked without issue, you're rather barking up the wrong tree. Perhaps you should spend some time expanding your horizons, somewhat. Wink

OP posts:
amberdillyduck · 25/03/2017 13:53

They gave a very clear warning before the show started and as it started,

Original poster
TittyGolightly · 25/03/2017 13:54

Which show? CR? What time was that? We didn't turn on till gone 8 and there was nothing.

OP posts:
Shockers · 25/03/2017 14:01

I actually thought that Ed Sheeran was completely right to say what he did. The BBC wants to protect our children against a word... those children are experiencing the horror of the actual act.

It also crossed my mind that his comment could potentially help victims of child sexual abuse in this country too. His openness and desire for this to stop for those far away children could really resonate with a child who is suffering this here too.

And he said it less than 5 minutes before the watershed. Do people really shoo their kids off to bed on the stroke of 9?

VanillaSugar · 25/03/2017 14:02

Ed Sheeran's comment was definitely before 9pm.

thebakerwithboobs · 25/03/2017 14:11

Shockers actually, yes, I do think it's a word that children should be 'protected' from. I don't mean by that that it should never be introduced but children should be educated in a thoughtful way. A child, who has been allowed to stay up until 9 to see Ed Sheehan, their hero, hears him say 'rape.' No explanation, no time for parents to prepare or think about how they would explain the concept in an age appropriate way. I guarantee, and this is not a criticism, that in many of the houses where this comment led to the question 'mummy, what is rape?' the answer given at the time was 'it doesn't matter,' 'we'll talk about it tomorrow,' and so on. It leads to confusion, to conversations at school child to child where they all add their own 'knowledge' to an explanation. Chuck in a smart phone Google search and the damage can be done. This may seem like a far fetched result from a short comment but it's not. Children are curious, inquisitive creatures and we should ensure that their education, even in the most terrible things, is as measured and age appropriate as it can be.

As a parent (the above comes very much from a HT perspective) yes, my younger children are allowed to watch TV until 9 on a Friday, nothing past the watershed. I don't think that's unusual (perhaps it is) although I admit they are much older than 6....

Shockers · 25/03/2017 14:28

I didn't say it was a word they shouldn't be protected from, but I do think that at 3 minutes to 9 he was rather making a point that we should know what horrors these boys are subjected to daily. I believe he said it all in a rather low tone in order to catch the attention of parents who were wondering what he had been asked not so say pre-watershed. I'm willing to bet that the comment will have passed unnoticed by most children who aren't familiar with the word already.

I don't believe for a minute that he would've said it at 7:30, I think the timing was crucial.

There's a lot of 'thinks' in my post, so I could be miles off. I don't 'think' so though.

thebakerwithboobs · 25/03/2017 14:33

If this one comment were the only piece of inappropriate material before the watershed, I would be inclined to agree it could be overlooked but it wasn't. I have punished children in school for lesser language and behaviour than they could see some of their TV role models displaying pre-watershed. It was poor form by the BBC.

HalfShellHero · 25/03/2017 14:44

There wasn't much music on either tbh if I'm remembering past ones better children in need seems better tbh.