We got our first big writing break on a CiTV show. And while Bounty Hamster is somewhat forgotten, the lessons we learned in story telling and narrative structure are not.
We’ve gone on to write for adult and primetime series - but it seems the children’s commercial sector is being shut down wholesale, and we’ll be a poorer country for it.
We refuse to believe that Ofcom wants to preside over the transformation of the UK television industry into streams of home-shopping channels, premium-rate phone ins or ‘babecasts’.
Nor do we want to believe that Ofcom wishes our children to be brought up by advertiser-funded content supplied by Japanese or US toy manufacturers.
Yet, this is precisely where we’re going.
Ofcom: Pull your finger out.
And contribute something to the cultural life of the nation.
And leave us with something worthwhile for those who most deserve it: the next generation of British Television’s audience.
Neil Mossey and Robert Venes credits include My Parents Are Aliens, Freefonix, Bounty Hamster, Bin Weevils, That Jo Caulfield Again, and for stand-up comedians John Gordillo and Jo Caulfield. The broadcasters they have written for include ITV1, BBC ONE, Nickelodeon, and BBC Radio 4.
