He’s gonna be fine or they wouldn’t be showing the programme’
And he wouldn’t be doing the voice-over’, (Ashton, Darcey, Carrie). This quick-wit on the essence of Steve Backshall’s mortality was by far the highlight of the show in my opinion. On the whole however, I don’t think the show was as strong as last week’s opening episode.
Kicking off with opinions on The Voice: Kids, Toby, Sam, and James offer the cynical opinion, ‘it seems they’re running out of ideas’, which is what many of us are probably thinking but too afraid to suggest on national television. I feel the producers of the show, made a wise choice in getting the kids to observe other children; their own demographic. It made for interesting television to see whether children are more critical of their peers than their fellow adults are. First up was young rocker Courtney, with an outstanding gravelly tone, and the one thing I noticed about the Gogglesprogs was their utter excitement, and dedication to imitate their peers on-screen. Each of the children, particularly Jacob and Connor, and Molly and William, were surprisingly supportive of the children they saw on TV, perhaps more so than us adults might be. Second contestant, rapper Little T, also proved to be a star in the making, earning the admiration of Shuaib, who announces wistfully, ‘He’s gonna get so many girls’, to which Janai responds under her breath, ‘like you haven’t’.
The show of course then takes a more serious turn with a nod to the turbulent political climate and the (un)certainty of the election. Little Molly asks what does a ‘hung parliament’ actually mean? – A question the rest of the nation has been thinking about no-doubt since last week. Her brother William contemplates, ‘who the hell is Pimm?’ when reading, quite literally, from the rolling on-screen headlines, the abbreviation of Prime Minister. Jack later asks in all seriousness, ‘how can she sit down if she’s lost seats?’ – that’s figurative seats, Jack. But once again, amongst all the naïve and silly questions, the children prove witty and sharper than expected; ‘this election has been a CAT-astrophe’. But all jokes aside, should the young viewers be watching chat about the election at all? Or should they be limited to engage only with more age-appropriate television?
This week’s show closes with the classic children’s film, Mrs Doubtfire. Their reactions to what they see on-screen at the beginning of the film, show that the topic of divorce is a sad thing for children; though some don’t know what the word actually means, Christina’s confusion at the couple’s split is telling of this. She comments he (Robin Williams in character) has no wrinkles, and that this is bad because ‘wrinkles show where smiles have been’; a bittersweet and astute observation. This moves swiftly on to a surprising and perhaps controversial choice of show for the young viewers; Panorama, on immigration. In relation to the racist and unhelpful attitudes shown by some members of the public at home, little Shuaib explains; ‘it makes me feel wrong to be in countries that were founded by white people’, a sad reflection on the current hostilities in both the political and social spheres of mid-2017, captured poignantly in the imagination of today’s children.
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