Technology | 2010.01.05
McCall: TV is 'not good' for children
Big Brother presenter limits her family\'s viewing time to just one hour and 15 minutes a day
The groundbreaking reality TV show Davina McCall fronts was one of the first to make the most of digital channels to offer round-the-clock viewing: the antics of those in the Big Brother house could be tracked for hours on end. McCall, though, appears to have found the off switch.
In a revealing interview, the presenter has spoken of her concerns about the impact of too much television on children. And her own are restricted to just an hour and 15 minutes a day.
McCall, who recently returned to Channel 4 as host of the final series of Celebrity Big Brother and presents Sky 1\'s new teatime talent show, Got To Dance, said she places strict rules on her family\'s viewing habits.
"I only let them watch 15 minutes in the morning, and an hour after dinner," said McCall, who has three children, Holly, eight, six-year-old Tilly and Chester, three. "If I\'m honest, I feel bad about that hour. It\'s not good for kids to watch telly. It definitely affects their behaviour."
McCall has presented Big Brother since it debuted in the UK in 2000. It became one of Channel 4\'s most important shows, with the third and most popular series in 2002 – the one that made a household name out of Jade Goody – averaging more than 5 million viewers. But ratings for last year\'s 10th season fell to about 2 million, and the show became a lightning rod for critics of Channel 4 who claimed it was failing to live up to its public service remit.
Big Brother will come to an end on Channel 4 this year. However, it could yet return to the small screen if the format is bought up by another channel.
McCall\'s Sky 1 show is a rival to BBC1\'s new dance format, So You Think You Can Dance, featuring the former Strictly Come Dancing judge Arlene Phillips. The Sky 1 show airs in a family-friendly slot at 6pm on Sunday and began with nearly a million viewers last weekend, the channel\'s biggest audience for more than a year.
Asked how she would feel if one of her children wanted to audition for a reality TV show like Big Brother when they were older, McCall told Psychologies magazine: "I\'d ask them where they thought it would take them. I couldn\'t tell them not to do it. But being in that [Big Brother] house makes you look at how your behaviour affects others, so it can be a very positive personal journey."
McCall began her TV career on MTV and hosted a short-lived teatime chatshow, Davina, on BBC1.
"I wanted to be famous to prove I was worth something," she told the magazine. "But the day I got my own show on MTV I cried all night because it didn\'t bloody validate me and I\'d spent years thinking it would. Fulfilment\'s an inside job. I just try to give more than is expected. That little bit extra takes you so far."
A former drug addict, McCall said: "You name it, I took it. Cocaine, ecstasy, even heroin. I try to go to a 12-step fellowship meeting every week. I\'ve been going for 17 years and no one\'s ever blown my anonymity.I feel safer in one of those meetings talking to a bunch of strangers than I do anywhere in the world."
McCall, who is married to former television presenter Matthew Robinson, said she is quieter than her excitable on-screen persona on Big Brother. "People want me to be that excitable person, and if I\'m not they feel short-changed. I\'ve been called an ice maiden and I\'m not going to say I don\'t care what people think, but with every wrinkle I get, I care slightly less," she said.
"For every person who hates me, there\'s someone else who likes me, and I\'ve got no control over who those people are."
Research: Six hours a day with a screen
Young people spend on average nearly six hours a day in front of a TV, computer or games console, according to statistics by market research agency Childwise published last year.
The more time children spend watching TV or on the computer, the more likely it is that they will be overweight, studies suggest. Nearly one in three of five- to 16-year-olds said they could not live without their computer, according to Childwise.
Channel 4\'s Big Brother was among programmes blamed by teachers for causing problem behaviour in schools. Two-thirds of nearly 800 staff surveyed last year by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers said Big Brother had caused the most bad behaviour among pupils.
Teachers said children copied catchphrases and body language from adult TV shows. Other programmes blamed by teachers included EastEnders, Little Britain, and the Catherine Tate Show. TV soundbites have also been blamed for eroding ability to concentrate during lessons.
People who cut their TV viewing by half burned an average of 120 calories more a day than a similar group who continued to watch an average five hours a day, according to a study published in the US. Studies have linked watching TV to eating fast food and drinks that appear in ad breaks.
Despite the arrival of advert-skipping technology such as Sky+, the average viewer in Britain watched 43 TV adverts a day in 2009, compared with 33 ads 10 years ago. A total of 2.45bn ads are seen by UK viewers each day.
John Plunkett
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2[...]mccall-television-bad-children
