Charity in Need
With the horrors surrounding the death of Baby P sending a chill through the spine of every decent human being, the spot-light on child suffering has never been greater.
The failings of Haringey Council which led to the poor tot's death have blown to pieces any misconceptions which may have existed among the British public that here in the UK those sort of things just don't happen.
Not a single person who has read or heard of the torture of poor Baby P could fail to be touched by it. The entire country has united in grief for a little tot who never knew love, never knew hugs or cuddles and lived their short life in nothing but fear.
Surely then there could have been no more appropriate time for the BBC's annual fundraiser Children in Need?
What a shame then that the Beeb succeeded only in making a royal hash of things.
For Children in Needs read D-list celebrities in need of plugging their latest song/film/tv show.
Leon Jackson, Jason Donavon, the admitedly gorgeous Alesha Dixon, Girls Aloud, Take That and Gok RUDDY Wan. All shamelessly appearing on our screens free of charge - expecting nothing more than a boost in record sales, viewing figures or just plain old popularity as way of thanks.
And the worst offender of the night? The BBC itself. Whether we like to admit it or not there are THOUSANDS of children in this country for who every day is an unfair struggle. Why then did the Children in Need producers feel the need to replay the same three of four hard luck stories over and over again? Nobody is saying the children featured deserved anything but our upmost sympathy but why just lazily rehash the clips? Why not make the most of the opportunity to show the real variety and extent of suffering among young people? And why bore the people who actually bothered to watch the show from start to finish and not just chuck 50p in the bucket next to the man at your local supermarket who spent the day in a bath full of beans?
Not only did they repeat the guilt-trip clips but they also insisted on showing each 'soap-stars revert back to stage-school brats for some whacky West End musical medley' at various points throughout the night.
Just in case you missed them the first time. At about the 56th showing of the Eastenders clip presenter Terry Wogan noticed someone in the audience yawning. He wasn't the only one.
The Beeb's other crime? Shameless, utterly SHAMELESS self-promotion. No adverts on the BBC? Well, no adverts unless you include the blatant 'please watch our next Dr Who show at Christmas' slot which was meant to be a Children in Need exclusive. And just because X-Factor is OWNING Stricly Come Dancing in the Saturday night ratings war does not mean you have to mention it every ten RUDDY minutes.
And just when I thought things couldn't get any worse - and by that I mean Tess Daley might take her fake smile and woeful presenting skills off air - it happened. The straw which broke the camel's back.
Ferne 'No really I care SO much' Cotton. On a night when the whole country was sympathising all Ferne did was patronise.
True, the night raised some twenty million pounds for charity and, when push comes to shove that makes the appalling self-congratulatory smug-fest worthwhile.
But right from the Wogan's opening lines reminding us all, as if we needed it, about Baby P, this was a tasteless appeal too far.
I can't help thinking if they really wanted to make some money they should get people to donate cash to NOT show the newsreaders singing Queen songs. Pick up the phone if you DON'T want to hear the latest single from last year's X-Factor winner. Send us an over-sized novelty cheque to never hear from PR-driven d-listers ever again.
Children in Need has gone from being a much-loved national event to the TV equivilent of the busker murdering Oasis songs outside your office window. You know - the one you give a fiver to clear off. And, with the country still weeping over poor, tragic Baby P, its timing could not have been worse.
Feel the same? Check out this superb parody by Ricky Gervais from Comic Relief 2007:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=e-ia__1d_rM
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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