Comic Relief before 9pm

[TittyGolightly]

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?

Maybe they should be?
Maybe it would help to raise more money for research so children dont have to travel abroad to get treatment.

I dont know but I dont believe your comment was right or fair.
It was awful and distressing and its sad that her death probably prompted many more to donate.
BUT the fact is the money that was donated will go on to save the lives of other children.

Shockers That little girl did NOT die on screen. She was filmed being treated at hospital and she died later.
I am talking about a different child.

You think we should show more children dying on screen?

I dont have to see ot to believe it. When did I ever say that?
I am fully aware of the deaths without a video showing it but many many people live in a special bubble and need such painful evidence to prompt them to give.

Ahhh hysterical lovely mysogonistic put down there Mrs mn tried and tested way to shut a person down. Next you will be telling me I am over invested and to step away from the thread

But we aren't as a society complacent about children dying of cancer.

I think the last article I read about charity donations said statistically cancer charities receive the most donations (and I'm not complaining about this).

We are as a society complacent about the malaria killing predominantly black children and we do need jolting out of that because despite all the previous work it always falls right down the priority list because it is mainly a black foreign issue.

The little girl dying made both my children (9&11) cry and a warning before would have probably been a good thing but I didn't have an issue with it. They were also very upset my the young carer because that's similar to their lives and they can see why both were shown.
The pre watershed language was just unnecessary though. It wasn't sailing close to the wind or a bit cheeky it was just trying too hard really. Clever comedy can tread that line and be much more entertaining.
They've also enjoyed Sing and Dance for CR and I notice they did warn viewers a little while ago before showing an edited version on Tabitha's story.

I switched off...nothing to do with the tragic films actually. But the comedy was unfunny and as quite a liberal person i thought some of the content of the "comedy" was inappropriate before 9.00am - Innuendo Bingo and the use of "slag tan" and "twat".

Ahhh hysterical lovely mysogonistic put down there Mrs
Now that is a tried and tested way of trying to shut someone down on MN.
Next you will be accusing me of being a racist pro-lifer.

If we continue to cross the line with fundraising it will become like the wild west.

We want our children to understand that other have different lives? How is desensitising them going to help?
How is perpetuating racist stereotypes going to help?
Black babies will continue to die unless little white children send their pocket money to save them?
Its disgusting.

We dip in and out of CR. I think that this year's quality was poor was not at the usual standard. Many of the comedians on it seemed to be there because it's a prestigious charity event rather than because they are funny. I realise that many are busy and lack time to write/rehearse but it was disappointing. Is it an adult rather than family programme now?
Is there still a watershed or is that just the BBC these days? Considering how CBBC/CBeebies often make educational and appropriate programmes, I can't believe that their resources weren't used more effectively.

And you are aggressive and very rude sookie.
You seem to have very little understanding of the underlying issues so substitute insults for cogent argument.

I am not taking it personally. It seems to be your style of posting generally.

Please don't accuse me of perpetuating or supporting the perpetuation of racist stereotypes, that clearly isn't my intention, agenda or the truth.

The message isn't that black babies will continue to die unless little white children send their pocket money to save them.

The message is black babies are dying and not enough is being done about it, because they're lives are less important to the powerful world.

That is disgusting.

More so that it takes a child dying on tv to get any real reaction. What I watched will stay with me, stay with the DC, hopefully stay with everyone which previous messages clearly haven't achieved and so it is necessary. They didn't sacrifice the child for tv, they showed reality and I think show if that what it takes to make some progress crack on.

Cheese 'Slag tan' is wildly inappropriate, especially in a programme aimed at younger viewers!

And you are aggressive and very rude sookie

Maybe read your own posts before you start throwing that around Mrs

I have given better responses than your little white child argument which is pretty low imo.

I see the end of our discussion is near Mrs as your last comnent about only while children donating shows a part of you I am not keen on.

Enjoy your evening.

More so that it takes a child dying on tv to get any real reaction
Not from me.
Nor should it from you and I am 100% it didn't take the sight of that child dying to make you care.

So who are we accusing of needed to see a child die to part with cash? Do we know it to be so?
Are we abandoning all ethics in fundraising to make 'good tv'?

just one article, there are many others

Bye then

The First MrsDV. I agree with you.Watershed be damned. I'm in my fifties, and I was utterly shocked by that wee girl's death. I still can't quite believe that this was put out on television. And worse, sandwiched between some weak comedy. It's a step too far for me. What an invasion of a person's privacy and a family's grief.

It was exploitation, pure and simple.

I agree that it was an invasion of privacy... (And I know the second VT they showed with Russell Whatsit DID have family permission, but they didn't seem to acknowledge that with the first little girls' death... )

More so that it takes a child dying on tv to get any real reaction

If it takes seeing a child die to make people give money then what happens when people become desensitized to that? Whats the next step? If people living in extreme povety, starving ect doesnt work anymore surely eventually dieing children will just become the same.

Personally i feel like its a massive invasion of the families privicy. Im sure if you are losing a child the last thing you want is a camera there.

The BBC's Harm and Office guidelines, including the watershed, are here.

I used to work at the BBC. The watershed isn't a binary division; there's a sort of sliding scale throughout the evening. Programmes shown later in the 5.30-9pm slot are less likely to be suitable for young children. I would generally say that content on 8-9pm might not be suitable for children under about 8.

Incidentally, a PP way upthread mentioned radio. There is no watershed on the radio, although producers should be mindful of times when families are likely to be listening together, e.g. breakfast and drivetime shows when children are likely to be in the car. The Afternoon Play slot, for example, can have some very adult themes and language.

Oh i didn't know there was no watershed on the radio but yes it's generally more adult.

Yep, I heard "arsehole" on a mid-morning radio 4 play not long back and was quite