Dear BBC, also please get rid of Gigglebiz, the caricatures are awful. Thank you, A Parent

[nanila]

In which I envisage using contemporary CBeebies shows for sexual orientation and gender identity educational purposes. Honestly, I kind of wish they would.

Octonauts
Episode in which Shellington, aka the walking encyclopedia, comes out as non-binary.
Kwazii: “Shiver me whiskers! Who knew you could be a boy AND a girl at the same time?”
Tweak, biting meaningfully into a carrot: “Duh, Kwazii.”

Charlie & Lola
Episode in which Lola decides to be a boy.
At the end, Charlie reprises the intro: “This is my little brother Lola. He’s small, and very funny.”

Bing
Episode in which Bing discovers his feelings for Pando are different from his feelings for Sula or Cocoa.
Flop: “Queer love: It’s a Bing thing.”

Clangers
Episode in which it is revealed that Clangers are sexually undifferentiated and reproduce via parthenogenesis.
Narrator: “Somewhere, out there in the vastness of space, there is a species whose stories have resisted being shoehorned into heteronormative human expressions of family life. Up until now, this wasn’t one of them.”

Comments

[rmc28]

I loathe Gigglebiz SO MUCH. It is one of the very few CBeebies shows I refuse to be in the same room as.

[nanila]

Likewise. We watched a bit of one episode once, and Humuhumu said, "I don't like this. Can we watch something else?" Yes, yes we can.

(Neither I nor the children are very keen on that Justin/Mr Tumble chap in his other shows either)

[rmc28]

Justin's House is bearable although VERY NOISY and both my two love it - it's basically panto without the innuendo. I like Something Special rather more and they like it a bit less, but they'll happily watch it; the sign language is especially interesting to them because N's nursery did baby-signing and their school routinely uses sign.

But Gigglebiz is just yuck.

[bryangb]

My eldest likes it & I can't understand why, when he has zero idea who or what it is caricaturing. Justin's House & Mr Tumble are more bearable.

[cmcmck]

When do you start writing the shows? :o)

[nanila]

Heh. Not right now, but I'm quite happy for anyone to take those plotbunnies and develop them further.

[silveradept]

I think these are all sensible ideas, especially the Clangers one.

[nanila]

It would be quite helpful (to me, anyway) to have those episodes as a resource.

[silveradept]

I, as well, if for no other reason than to be able to have them get checked out from the library.

[davidgillon]

I'm not familiar with the others, but I adore the Clangers thing!

[nanila]

The others are relatively new, so if you haven't been or had a small child in the last five or so years, you probably won't be familiar with them. :D

[hilarita]

*Fwweeep-weep-fweeee-ee-ee-eee-eeeep*

Approximate translation: *I* think that's a good idea.

[nanila]

Heeee. Endorsement in Clangerese! \o/

[forthwritten]

I, too, would like to see these things.

[nanila]

It would be great. Kids would just take it all on board, no problem. Although I bet there'd be some screeching from the grown-ups.

[major_clanger]

I'd always assumed the Clangers reproduced by knitting. However, despite my username, I can't claim say special knowledge of this.

[nanila]

Of course! Granny Clanger made them all! (But how did Granny Clanger come into being...)

[askygoneonfire]

In the original Clangers series, the Soup Dragon reproduces asexually/with the help of three notes, a metal egg and the iron chicken's laser. so there's that.

[nanila]

I can't even tell you how happy it makes me that this is how Baby Soup Dragon came to be.

[askygoneonfire]

From the point of view of Marxist critique of labour, it's a bit problematic, but otherwise it's a delightful episode https://youtu.be/G512fvK9KXA

[askygoneonfire]

Why yes! I did write a section of my PhD thesis on The Clangers, how did you guess! ;-p

[mysterysquid]

A+

[nanila]

\o/ Thanks! :D