Television Review: Young miss shows they ought to see

Lin Ferguson

Currents-affairs shows are mostly not the province of the young - yet they're exactly the stuff they should watch.

Even if they just watch one of the 15-minute stories - checking, of course, that it's pertinent and worthy of seeing (I'm not talking celebrities/rock stars/fashionistas etc). I'm on about stories of real people, old and young, struggling, winning, hoping and trying ... or, in some cases, losing out and giving up.

The SUNDAYprogramme on TV One last Sunday featured memorable stories, yet none was obviously entertaining because they provided some serious consideration about society.

And here lies the problem and why current-affairs shows are petering out in the ratings. As they've kept screening tragic tales of human resolve, high-end medical mystery conditions, drug-addicted parents and angels of mercy saving addicts, orphans and animals etc, the entertainment factor has plummeted.

Last Sunday there was the story of a young mother, Faith, who adored her year-old daughter Jane. Faith's love for her was not in question, but her methamphetamine (P) habit certainly was. This addictive drug that affects the brain and central nervous system has wrecked - and is wrecking - thousands of lives.

Faith was taken into a CYF-run house with other young mums and their babies to help get them back on track, living in the community.

And it was an exciting day when Faith, a personable young woman, and baby Jane went off to live in their own place with a female flatmate. But however ardent Faith's resolutions had been, once she was in her own place, her brain failed and the P returned. The love for her baby remained strong but, for three weeks, the child lived in the house while mum and her flatmate smoked the drug daily.

The two women headed off overnight to party, leaving the baby with a friend. As fate would have it, there was a car crash, Faith died and Jane was orphaned. As the CYF worker said, saving Faith's life had really been in vain.

"No matter how much she loved her baby, her happiness came from P and she's one of of thousands of young addicts - the drug is just too powerful and damaging."

Now baby Jane is up for grabs, up for re-homing ... a sad and too common story.

This story was followed by one about an Aussie teacher, "Grandma Angel", who defied the odds when she visited China and saw orphanages where children had been tossed on the scrapheap because they were disabled or a girl, not quite what parents had hoped for.

This is the one-child-per-family regime and the orphanages are prolific, vast and rundown.

"Grandma Angel" has taken 61 Chinese orphans into old houses she's bought in Brisbane, where her life's work is to hug her small charges daily and pat their little heads with love.

So real stories, real people ... But, for the younger audience, the excitement is zilch! Shame.