Smallscreen

If you make documentaries for the main terrestrial television channels, one of the greatest challenges is getting the balance right between entertainment and information. Britain's broadcasting system places some public service obligations on the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Five, but television is also a mass medium and, quite apart from the fact that there is no point in making programmes which no one watches, most of these channels would go out of business if they didn't get decent viewing figures. As one channel controller once put it, this process is "an endless navigation between the popular and the important, a constant tension between the pragmatic and the purposeful." It matters that programmes get this right, because television is still an important source of information: a recent Mori survey showed that radio and television were the main sources of information for the public about science. When television gives advice, people may well follow it. Take, for example, Bringing Up Baby—a four-part series shown on Channel 4 this autumn.

The series followed six families with new babies, who were exposed to three mentors (pictured, below) with very different approaches to bringing them up. There was Claire Verity—the proponent of the popular 1950s idea of "strict routine," based on Frederic Truby King's 1913 work Feeding and Care of Baby. Then, representing the 1960s, was Dreena Hamilton, a supporter of Benjamin Spock's "listen to the babies' needs" approach. And representing the 1970s was Claire Scott, a supporter of the "continuum concept," which the series described as "parenting tribal style." These three examples were chosen, the programme said, because "the chances are that you were probably brought up on one of these methods." In fact, one suspects, they were chosen to ensure that we got a real contrast and "good television." The "continuum concept"—which includes carrying babies in slings and giving toddlers knives to cut up cucumbers—is based on Jean Liedloff's 1975 book of that name. This was also the year that Penelope Leach published Babyhood, which, along with her 1977 Your Baby and Child, has a much better claim to be the child-rearing bible of the 1970s. Leach, however, supported the "choose the rules that work for you and your baby" approach—which would not fit in easily with a formatted series such as this, where sharp contrasts are needed.

And this is the first question the series raises: was it necessary to have a format to make it work? Obviously, the series is a construction—the six families were chosen from hundreds of applicants and, until this idea came along, had probably given no thought to Truby King, Spock or Liedloff. So what was filmed would not have happened if the programme-makers had not constructed it—like lots of television. Once filmed, however, it would still have been possible to make an observational documentary series—interweaving the stories of the six families as they wrestled with the challenges of having new babies and bringing them up on different systems. The mentors would have been in the films, although their role would probably not have been as prominent as it was.

But the observational documentary route was not chosen. Instead, the series was presented as "a unique experiment" to find out "the best way to bring up baby." The commentary contained many phrases like, "we find out which works best for dads," "the hands down winner is…," "the best for bonding is…." Not "the best for these parents," but, as the final programme trumpeted, "With three months' worth of evidence for each of our methods, which one has come out on top?" In other words, the series appeared to give unequivocal guidance, and the mentors became major characters—constantly advising and meeting to debate childcare (the argument over breastfeeding in public was particularly good viewing). Largely as a result of its format, Bringing Up Baby unleashed a major furore. After the first episode, Channel 4 received 450 complaints; Ofcom received over 350 calls and emails, and will be investigating the complaints it receives. Channel 4's online forum has received over 15,000 comments. Even the programme's commissioning editor joined in the debate.

The main butt of criticism has been Claire Verity's strict regime—leaving babies to cry, feeding them when they are not hungry, putting them out in the garden with the door shut. One of the themes to come out of parents' comments on the Channel 4 forum is resentment that they are being told how to bring up their babies. Many say they bring up their children differently, in their own way, and it works. If Channel 4 had chosen the documentary rather than the format approach, it could have made an interesting series without this backlash. Quite a few of the commenters said they believed Channel 4 chose its format cynically, to attract viewers—although the viewing figures for the first episode were in fact rather poor. And it is odd that a series that sets out to tell you the best way to do something appeared on a channel whose head of programming, Julian Bellamy, has argued that television can no longer tell people what to think, but must let them make up their own minds. In fact, Bringing Up Baby appeared to realise this in its final episode, which concluded: "Each method has its pros and cons… it is not possible to chose an outright winner… choose the method which works best for you." Many subjects on television are pushed through the sieve of a format. Bringing Up Baby should make us reflect on whether this is always the right thing to do.