Early years hearts sank as news broke that the BBC was to screen an undercover documentary exposing bad practice in nurseries. Yet the public backlash from 'Whistleblower' has not been very great, certainly not compared to that for 'Nurseries Undercover' three years ago.
Managers of high-quality private settings, bracing themselves for negative reactions from parents, have told Nursery World that few have even bothered to comment on the programme, and none have let it affect their confidence in their chosen nursery.
This may in part be because the documentary was not well-made - padded out with irrelevant footage, sensationalising with doomy music and shots of the reporter scurrying along badly-lit night-time streets, and containing errors and misinterpretations. Viewers are also savvier now about TV's own failings after a catalogue of incidents from 'Richard and Judy' to 'Blue Peter'.
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