Teen Mum High was shown on BBC2 last night, featuring my wife, Jane. Not as a teen mum you understand, but because she works at Moat House School as an English teacher.
If you saw it, you may recall her reading Jane Eyre to some of the girls at Howarth, natilly dressed in a pale blue waterproof...
The showing last night was the culmination of a fair amount of stress for the staff and girls at the school, mainly as the project started off following pupils at two specialist referral units - one in Newcastle, and Moat House - but for reasons I won't go into, the other school had to withdraw, meaning that all the footage was from Stockport, and to ensure there was enough footage to construct the documentary, the crew went way over their original agreement for number of hours on site etc.
Anyway, I've been busily printing off the reviews from various newspapers today so that Jane can read them later - I haven't found any negative views, plus the program was pick of the day in a bunch of telly guides yesterday too.
There was, however, a marked contrast between the trailer the BBC used to advertise the program, and the pace and content - I think maybe someone had decided to 'sex-up' the trailer and hadn't realised how gentle and sympathetic the documentary actually was. If you watched thinking there would be salacious details that re-enforced the tabloid view of teenage mothers, then I suspect you would have been disappointed.
Being involved in the program was a difficult decision for Jane, herself being adopted, and some years ago traced her birth mother who was in her teens when Jane was born, so taking part required a fair amount of soul searching. Jane's birth mum was actually quite upset at some of the comments Jane made in the program, but I think that's because she is personally involved and so it was far more poignant than it would have appeared to other viewers.
Overall I was impressed with the program - and think it shows the girls and the school in a very positive light. I think it goes to show how a caring and supportive environment is way more productive than castigation and vilification.
