TV: Fireman Sam and SuperTed 'wouldn't exist' without subsidies

SuperTed and Fireman Sam would never have been made without cash help from the government, the driving force behind the popular cartoons has said.

It comes as UK ministers consider if they will continue subsidising children's TV shows for Channel 5, E4 and the Welsh language channel S4C.

SuperTed and Fireman Sam started on S4C before being broadcast in English.

"They would not have been made without subsidies," said Fireman Sam producer and SuperTed creator Mike Young.

Leading presenters, including former Play School anchor Baroness Floella Benjamin, now a House of Lords peer, and former Blue Peter presenter Konnie Huq have expressed their concern for the future of children's programming if the UK government cut their Young Audiences Content Fund.

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It was set up in 2018 and helps cover the cost of making children's shows for public service broadcasters and it has allocated more than £44m over a three-year trial to support the production of shows on public serving broadcasting channels.

But there are fears future funding could affected by the UK government's ongoing spending review although the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said no decision had been made.

Mike Young, now a Hollywood-based Emmy and Bafta award-winning animator, said he was "flabbergasted" that cash for children's content could be cut because, although animation "is there to be fun, it is at the same time incredibly educational".

"It would be a very short-sighted decision and it's a minor investment when compared to some of the money that governments tend to waste in other areas."

Mr Young, who still makes animations and runs a Los Angeles-based production company, said children's shows were attractive to TV channels and streaming services because "kids watch content more than adults".

"A child will watch the same programme over and over again as part of their learning process," he said.

"Whereas adults will watch, say The Crown once and never watch it again."

"So children's TV shows have a new generation every three years or so, especially in the younger demographics.

"Plus they're long lasting and earn money from merchandising. I can go down the road now in LA and buy a Fireman Sam toy.

"If they [UK government] take these grants and subsidies away, it'll put the UK at a tremendous disadvantage to the rest of the world. It'll really set back an industry if this happens."

My Young started his career creating SuperTed, which was broadcast as S4C's first programme when the channel launched in November 1982.

"In the case of S4C, it's not just making shows for children, it's actually retaining a language and a culture - it goes beyond children's TV programmes," he added.

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Mr Young also played an integral role in making Fireman Sam - Sam Tan in Welsh - a hit on S4C before both animations were translated into English.

Despite both being TV staples for millions of children in the 1980s, well before the creation of the Young Audiences Content Fund, he said both were partly funded by government subsidies of the day.

The body representing independent TV companies in Wales said, without the government fund, it was "very doubtful" that dramas for young people and new animation series would have been commissioned.

"It is really short-sighted now when we are seeing some really good evidence from dozens of programmes who have been commissioned though this fund and to now look at stopping it is doesn't make sense to me," said Gareth Williams, chairman of Teledwyr Annibynnol Cymru.

One of the beneficiaries of the government fund is producer Nia Ceidiog, Fireman Sam's original scriptwriter, who is making a children's drama with a focus on mental health.

"It would have been impossible to produce this in the Welsh language had it not been for an award from the YAC fund," she said.

"Drama is expensive and S4C would not have been able to produce drama for children of that standard so having this award - 50% of the budget - is crucial".

S4C said the fund has helped the Welsh language channel "invest in productions that otherwise would not have seen the light of day," including cult Welsh hit Sali Mali.

"Whilst S4C has done well from the YAC fund, and whilst S4C would not like to see the end of this important source of money for original content from Wales, its end would not have a negative impact on S4C's wider children's offering," it said.

"Even without the contribution of the YAC fund, S4C is the second biggest commissioner of children's TV programmes."

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