THE BBC was accused of "abandoning" children over 12 yesterday by failing to produce engaging programmes for teenagers.
The veteran producer Phil Redmond, creator of Grange Hill, spoke out angrily after the school series was axed by the corporation 30 years after it first aired.
The producer of Brookside and Hollyoaks, said: "The announcement comes as no shock fo
llowing BBC Children's decision early last year to abandon viewers over 12 and concentrate its focus on nine-year-olds.
"Obviously, that wasn't good news for a programme that has spent 29 years focusing on secondary education."
TV executives are aware of the increasing difficulty of attracting children over 12, as a result of the growing popularity of the internet and computer games.
Recent surveys have found that teens spend much of their home time networking online, watching clips on YouTube, listening to iPods or playing on game consoles. In the past, BBC shows such as Grange Hill, Byker Grove, Rentaghost, Swap Shop and Saturday Superstore were hugely popular with 12-16 year olds. Mr Redmond has suggested that the BBC has simply given up trying to lure this audience back.
"While society at large is looking for cultural role models for our children … shouldn't the BBC, our primary public service broadcaster, be doing more, not less, to plug this cultural gap?" he asked. "Is setting the age of 12 as the end of childhood a sociological reality, or simply a response to falling ratings following the usual failure to keep engaged with and serve a changing audience adequately?"
A BBC spokesman insisted yesterday there was a "real commitment to teen drama", but admitted that two teen drama series in the works will not be on air until the end of 2009.
One show that is a big draw for the teen audience, Skins, on Channel 4, has moved its second show to 10pm at night or later. The broadcaster is recommending it for 18s and over.
Some observers say the longer school day, with both parents working, has cut back traditional afternoon viewing hours.
Jim Shelley, a TV writer, suggested teenagers are watching Ashes to Ashes, the Life on Mars spin-off, or girls are opting for Desperate Housewives or Sex and the City – if they're not on PlayStations or iPods.
"Everybody ignores that market," he said. "You couldn't really say ITV makes any programmes for them.
Nobody's bothered – and the least bothered are the 12-16-year-olds."
A BBC spokesman pointed to BBC Switch, a platform for its 12-16 content launched last October. The website features film trailers and video. It takes visitors to Radio 1's teen shows and music television show Sound and a drama, Falcon Beach, airing on Saturdays on BBC 2.
But two new dramas for BBC3 will not air until winter 2009. "That's the time period of putting these things together," the spokesman said.
C4 airs education programmes, but has no remit for children's or youth programmes, a spokeswoman said. "A lot of our programming does have a younger skew, though not as low as 12."
The soap Hollyoaks is seen as one draw, though it's not clear how its audiences are faring.
TEENAGERS PREFER TO REACH FOR MOUSE NOT REMOTE CONTROLLIKE many teenagers Megan Field is looking forward to the new series of Skins (below) which starts on Monday.
"I really like Skins because it's about how we live now and young people are acting in it. In the last series somebody got run over by a bus and it's exciting to know what's going to happen next."
But the North Berwick High School pupil watches far less television than she did when she was younger.
"I don't really watch that much television. I think when you are a teenager you have more time, more freedom and there's lots more stuff to do."
When she has free time at home, the 15-year-old is just as likely to switch on the computer and log on to a social networking site like Bebo as to reach for the remote control.
"It's good because you can hang around with your friends and send them messages. People post blogs and pictures and polls about things like whether you prefer Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp," she said.
Euan MacLeod, a pupil of James Gillespie's High School in Edinburgh, agrees that teenagers have more interesting things than television to occupy their time.
"Apart from comedy I don't really watch television," he said. "I'd like to see some comedy aimed at teenagers – but it would have to be as good quality as the adult programmes."
The full article contains 778 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
