Idea for new parenting advice TV show based on Mumsnet Talk - your thoughts/input needed

[JustineMumsnet]

You may have clocked a wee announcement last week that Channel 4 are interested in making a TV show featuring real mums sharing their best support and advice to others in need of it, a sort of TV version of Mumsnet Talk. We have been approached by the production company - Studio Lambert - to work together to come up with a pilot for the show.

If it's commissioned it's likely to be 6-8 programmes of 1 hour length (48 mins without the ads). The (very rough) idea is to have 4 or so featured families per show, each with a specific parenting problem and a range of mums who've been there and done that or just have some insight, giving their help, support and advice in an attempt to help them through the problem, a la Mumsnet.

We're at a very early stage but we wanted to ask for any thoughts about format, participation, whether/how you'd like to be approached - a panel, a sticky thread? - what you think the pitfalls are, what the opportunities are, what subject matter you'd like to see covered and indeed anything else that springs to mind on the subject.

Many thanks in advance for your input.

exactly mn roll call of most often dissed discussed can present
posh spice
gwynnie paltrow
princess twinkletits turner
kerry iceland
denise tits outen
myleene nae class
queen kate

TVAM - I'm not so sure they will really know what MN is about, to be honest. Like Aitch says, unless they've been here 'properly' their view will be based on what they think they know/what they've read in the press. And we know how accurate that is!

Hi BecauseI'mWorthIt,

Thanks for your reply. I have only been a member of Mumsnet for a couple of weeks, but I have been 'lurking' for a while so I do have some idea of what it's like - though I am sure there is still lots to learn. And I'm actually not a mum. I'd love to be one... but no such luck yet! Prior to this project, a lot of my time has been spent in the 'relationships' threads.

I am referring to 'mums' because, at the moment, this is a parenting series - but you never know, it may develop into looking at broader issues once we get going. Our plan is to look at a issues affecting parents of children of all ages, from newborns to teens. And if there are dads and grandparents interested in getting involved we'd be very interested in including them too - apologies for not including them in my previous post.

And you're right - there is more than the occasional witty anecdote on here - the level of humour is one of the things that has got me hooked on this site and is something we really want to bring out in the series.

I'm off to check out the Hagsnet thread - thanks for the tip!!

You may find that Hagsnet puts you off!

Or may terrify you if you are under 40...

I thought Hagsnet was a suburb in Berkshire

Hi, I'm working with Ros to develop this programme idea further. As Justine said, we're still at a very early stage, so it's great to get your input on what you think will/won't work.

I wanted to try and answer a couple of the questions that have been raised already. In terms of the format of the show, we're thinking it would be a peaktime programme rather than daytime or early evening, so as Ros said we're not really looking at a panel show. LisMcA brought up Embarrassing Bodies, which although it's a totally different kind of programme, is a good example in that it has multiple stories across the hour, some of which are followed in lots of detail, and others which are smaller. And we're definitely thinking that we would have more than one 'issue' in each programme.

In terms of the range of parenting problems it would cover, our current plan is that we'd want to feature everything from pregnancy and babies through to teenagers. Thanks to those of you who have already made suggestions about the kinds of subject matters you'd want to see discussed, and we'd love to hear any more ideas.

A key part of this is that we want to get away from the more traditional TV concept, where a parenting expert visits family/expert gives advice/problem is magically fixed. We want to make a programme which represents the fact there are a huge range of parents from all walks of life who all have different views and different advice, and an individual can hear this advice and than make their own choice as to what they do.

I also completely take on board your comments about making sure any programme represents the fact that the discussions on MN are intelligent, witty, irreverent and often not explicitly about parenting. As mumapillar said, we've spent a long time reading Mumsnet Talk, and part of what attracts us to this idea is seeing so many of the funny, insightful and honest stories people tell on the site about their experences. I understand some of the natural concerns that a programme might portray a kind of 'Daily Mail' image of Mumsnet, but I assure you that what we're interested in is showing a large range of intelligent and articulate mums, all with their own perspectives and opinions, talking openly about the realities of bringing up children, and sharing their real-world advice with families who are going through similar problems.

Which obviously brings me to another issue some of you have brought up, which is anonymity. I think this is something Ros and I need to think about further, as quite a lot of you have said a big part of the appeal of the site is you can say what you like because it's anonymous. At the same time, I think it would be a quite frustrating programme to watch if you can't see any of the people giving their advice, and I'm not sure that dramatising or animating it would be quite right either. We'll think about this further and get back to you, but my gut instinct is you'd want to see real people giving their advice.

Sorry, this has accidentally turned into a bit of an essay! Please do keep your comments/questions coming, your thoughts are really helpful for us in formulating what might (or might not) work.

Thanks

I think you need to seriously consider animation for the parts of the programme that require anonymity, a bit like 'Creature Comforts' where the voices are real opinions from real humans, but the visuals are animated characters. I should imagine that type of sophisticated animation would be expensive, but something simpler would work just as well. The example that springs to mind is the advert for that price comparison site (Confused.com?) with the blue stick people dancing around.

I think that would be preferable to having a shadowy head in a darkened room, which producers seem to use a lot for interviewing rape victims etc.

I also wondered if you are planning to keep the whole programme fairly lighthearted, featuring nothing heavier than fussy eaters, sleep problems etc., or are you planning to delve deeper into eating disorders, mental problems, challenges of disability etc., or even tackle very distressing issues such as the death of a child etc.?

I think there should be a stickied thread for us to post on so we know that what we write might get used (or not), and NOT lurk everywhere using whatever you like. I guess you could ask a poster on other threads if you can use their post if some-one says something pertinent.
I agree, with not putting MNers on tv, unless they are professionals in the subject matter (perhaps).
Unless this is broadcast 8 pm plus you will lose MN as it will have to be more sanitised. And we like a good swear, as well as being able to put the stark truth as opposed to being fluffy and kid -friendly 'just in case'

TBH the more I think about it the less I think it can be done. Good luck!

One thread on the programme could work in a similar to several newspaper columns I've seen recently - where a correspondent's problem is outlined in some detail in the first programme and then in the next programme a cross-section of responses from readers/viewers and experts are given (even if they vary wildly in how to resolve the problem).

i just think that the anonymity is what lets people cut loose and be super-frank... there is no way that anyone could come out with some of the stuff on here and not look like a total bitch when packaged into 5 minutes. imo.

Totally agree with Aitch et al regarding anonymity.

How can you be honest (or exaggerate for comedy effect or indeed for sympathy) when your MIL or child's teacher or child could be watching you say it?

or your children's schoolmates, more to the point?

Twit - Thanks for your feedback. Please be reassured that we will not be using any posts that are currently on this site. We totally understand and appreciate that anonymity is very important to a lot of people here and we have no intention of featuring anyone's words without their permission. At the moment we are hoping to find parents looking for advice who haven't already posted their story on the site, and then we will invite people to offer their support, ideas etc. And yes - this will definitely be made for a post 8pm broadcast!

Cattledprod - Thank you too. We're hoping to feature a wide range of issues - from serious to lighthearted. I have been moved to tears by some of the threads and laugh out loud at others, and it would be great to reflect that mix in the programmes. However, we are aware that there will be some people with serious issues that are best supported away from television cameras, and we will be taking professional advice on any issues that come up involving potentially vulnerable people.

(it's actually a bit rude to cherry-pick who to answer on forums like this, rosa... i'd have thought you would know that, being such a long-term lurker.)

Apologies - I didn't mean to be rude. The newer posts popped up while I was still responding to the last two. I am trying to do too many things at once and not replying fast enough. From now on I will stop attempting (and failing) to multitask!

I agree with Aitch. The biggest issue is the anonymity factor. I just cannot see a way around this not being exploitative.

I'd also like to direct you all to Studio Lambert's recent programme "Love thy Neighbour" and ask yourselves if you'd be happy to be one of the residents of the village featured there.

alright rosa, sorry for being snippy, it did just look like the two sl posters were ignoring a lot of people's serious misgivings.

Totally appreciate all the concerns about anonymity - we need to put a lot of thought into this because, as many of you have pointed out, we want to capture the spirit of the site which relies on people being super-frank.

We definitely want to get a wide cross-section of responses to any issues that we feature - so I think the comparison to the newspaper column is a good one.

Totally appreciate that not everyone was a fan of 'Love Thy Neighbour' but I would like to point out that we make a wide variety of programmes, so please do have a look at the Studio Lambert website if you want to know more.

And snippy is cool - I'd rather people tell me where I'm going wrong! We really don't mean to ignore anyone - we're just trying to catch up with all the posts while juggling other stuff. We are reading everything and taking all thoughts on board. It's incredibly helpful to hear everyone's opinions, so thank you to everyone for taking the time to give your feedback.

Rosa/Freya (how come everyone in media companies has names ending in an a btw? ): May I suggest you head over to Mumsnet classics to get a flavour of what makes Mumsnet very special. It's that we do veer off on wild tangents and get ourselves into sticky situations but are willing to laugh at ourselves at the same time and appreciate that we are completely fallible.

To this end I don't actually see why anonymity is such an issue. Surely you could take a range of views from people on here, assign them to a stoodge who could say them, deadpan and make good interesting telly.

If people want anonymity they don't have to be directly involved, just give their consent.

To be completely honest, 95% of the stuff on here (and I am including my own posts before I get whacked with kippers for being boastful) are inane drivel. It's the 5% gold which runs down the middle that matters.

So just use that.

Anything online is open to scrutiny and anybody who posts online in the same way. I'm not saying be insensitive and chunter on through people's posts about domestic violence but for example, the really juicy bits of Mumsnet tend to be funny and irreverent and yes the posters themselves might not want to say them but they were quite chuffed when featured in the Mumsnet books, for example. (And just FYI JUSTINE where's my bloody mention eh? Do I say nothing of practical use at all hmmm? Actually no you are right, I don't, forget it )

charge 'em, whomoved. don't give them anything for free. personally i can think of an excellent way to do a lovely, ace, MN type show but will i give it up for free, will i bollocks...

Wish my name was Rosa - that would make me sound pretty. It's actually Rosamund, which somehow got shortened to 'Ros' as a child and mostly gets me muddled with 'Ross' and assumed to be a boy.

LOVE the name rosamund.

Aitch, me too - and I'd happily write it all out for a fellow MN'er, but give it to a production company for free? Don't think so.

What I will say, though, is that I think the wrong question has been asked. Rather than 'how do we put MN on tv?', the question should be, how can we make a programme which is as funny, compelling, irreverent, informative, opinionated and democratic as MN, a programme which reflects as much about women's lives as the site does - from feminists to slimming clubs, chicken keepers to disabled parents?

And the answer to that question is not a few mums giving their thoughts to some other mums about childcare. To me, that is such a small proportion of what MN is about, that it's actually rather belittling of the site.

While I'm not giving out format ideas for free, I would say that one thing that would be crucial for my programme is that contributors would make their own films about their problems. That would at least be a bit like it is here.

Meanwhile, two questions. Rosa/Freya: are you able so say how many people in your office have children, in particular how many women? And would you employ women with children on the programme.? One of the ironies of this set up is that tv has a truly appalling record in employing women with children, and it's one of the most child-unfriendly industries there is, with silly working hours, short term contracts and no flexibility (hence the fact that, even despite 17 years of quite senior work, I don't do it any more). It would be rather ironic if MN the programme was made on that basis.

Also, Justine: You said: "approached by the production company - Studio Lambert - to work together to come up with a pilot for the show." MN is a hot property - have you not interviewed a few prod companies to see who is a good fit with MN? At the moment the production company and the channel have all the power in this relationship and my general experience of this is that you probably won't like (or at least we probably won't like) what comes out the other end. Do you have much editorial control?