Sofa Surfers (TV series)

Sofa Surfers [1] is a British documentary series for the BBC by John Walsh of Walsh Bros Ltd. There are over 130,000 children living in the UK today without a permanent place they can call home. Sofa Surfers is a BBC documentary series which takes a look into the lives of four homeless children living in different types of temporary accommodation. This is thought to be the first children’s documentary dedicated to this subject. Using animation and rotoscoping techniques by the company White Balance,[2] the series has been described by the Whittington Hospital, which features in the film, as a watershed moment in children’s documentaries in the UK.[3] The series was part of the BBC's homeless season of programmes.[4][5]

For other uses, see Sofa surfing (disambiguation).

Sofa Surfers
Television poster
Directed byJohn Walsh
Narrated byJohn Walsh
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producerRoger James
ProducerJohn Walsh
Running time5 x 30 min.
Production companyWalsh Bros Ltd.
Release
Original releaseMarch 16, 2009 (2009-03-16)

The film attempted to show the real lives of homelessness children through a week of observational documentaries aimed at an audience of 6–12 years old. Its approach was enabling the young and vulnerable contributors to speak candidly about their situation, and employed current animation techniques to bring those stories alive. Each episode featured testimony from children, as young as six, and showed their resilience, black humour and mature understanding of the incredibly difficult circumstances they were in. Walsh spoke on BBC News about challenges making the series.[6]

Two episode we filmed at the Chester-based charity Save The Family. One episode here included an interview with Iain Duncan Smith MP, supporter of the charity.[7]

Walsh made the acclaimed three part documentary series Headhunting The Homeless for BBC2 in 2003.[8]

Episodes

There have been 22 screenings of the episodes from this series, below are the details for the first UK transmissions.

Episode Date Time Channel Description
1. Shane 16 March 2009 18.00 BBC1 The first programme follows Shane, a bright articulate nine year old who is insightful about his homeless position, Shane and his family are living in emergency accommodation and make their fifth move in six months and find cockroaches and a leaky bathroom in their latest home. When Christmas arrives the cupboards are nearly bare as mum struggles to make ends meet.[9]
2. Amanda 17 March 2009 18.00 BBC1 Amanda, aged 14, is the subject of Tuesday’s show, she recently moved into a hostel in north London with her father and her brother. It is a big adjustment from her previous life in America. Her Mum and two sisters are in Nigeria, so this is an opportunity for her to get to know Dad again after his business went bust. But the pressure of keeping a secret at school, and living in uncomfortable accommodation, with little money and privacy, leads to problems for Amanda and her family. Amanda struggles with the idea of telling her new friends she is homeless but decides to take the plunge reveal the truth about her situation.[9]
3. Sagal 18 March 2009 18.00 BBC1 Wednesday follows Sagal, an 11-year-old originally from Somalia. She lives in a flat in temporary accommodation with her mother and her lively three-year-old brother who rules the roost. Sagal is very private and has told almost no one that she is homeless. She is keen to do well in school and has aspirations to be a doctor.[9]
4. Mel 19 March 2009 18.00 BBC1 Mel, 13, lives with her family and as one of the older children at the charity Save the Family’s sheltered housing project, she has become an unexpected role model for the other children who live there. During this penultimate episode Mel becomes a roving reporter for the series and finds out how Save the Family works. At a fundraising event she interviews former Conservative Leader Iain Duncan Smith.[9]
5. The Sofa Surfers 20 March 2009 18.00 BBC1 The series rounds off when all the families meet together for the first time for a weekend of celebration at Save the Family Wales, there are tears, tantrums and even a little romance…[9]

Awards

It was Rose d'Or nominated in 2010[10] was nominated for the Social Award at the Rose d'Or Awards.[11]

The International Documentary Association listed Sofa Surfers in their notable awards round up.[12]

Reception

This series received wide recognition for challenging perceptions around childhood homelessness. The Daily Mirror described it as "Shocking story of homeless family." It went on to say "this heart-breaking five-part BBC documentary series Sofa Surfers...explores child homelessness for other youngsters.” [13]

The Daily Post described it as a “touching tale of a homeless child who finds refuge at a Flintshire safe-haven.” Tim McLachlan, Save the Family chief executive, said: “We saw Sofa Surfers as an excellent opportunity to enlighten young people about homelessness and how it can touch anybody of any age.” [14]

The series was covered by The Guardian’s Louise Carpenter, who wrote “for every statistic, or non-statistic, there is a real child who is trying to cope. It is because of this that Billy-Jo and the children and three other families agreed to feature in a BBC five-part documentary series, Sofa Surfers, about child homelessness, to be aired on CBBC next week - part of a homelessness season on CBBC aimed at breaking down prejudices, especially among children themselves. The series explores the day-to-day reality; the children's hopes, their dreams, their disappointments. But, more than anything else, it shows their bravery, a heartbreaking acceptance of circumstances over which they have no control.” [15]

References
  1. "CBBC - Sofa Surfers, Shane".
  2. "The White Balance - Sofa Surfers". www.thewhitebalance.com. Archived from the original on 23 July 2015.
  3. "Sofa Surfers - Groundbreaking BBC Documentary Series on Child Homelessness". www.whittington.nhs.uk.
  4. "BBC - Press Office - Network TV Programme Information BBC Week 11 Thursday 19 March 2009".
  5. "BBC - Press Office - CBBC/CBeebies Winter/Spring 2009 press pack: CBBC programmes N-Z".
  6. "Sofa Surfers - BBC Breakfast News". 8 January 2010.
  7. "TV presenter Eamonn Holmes pledges support for Chester's Save the Family charity". 9 April 2009.
  8. "BBC - Press Office - Headhunting the Homeless".
  9. "Search - BBC Programme Index".
  10. "Sofa Surfers". bbc.co.uk. 19 March 2009.
  11. "Rose d'Or nominations announced". realscreen.com.
  12. https://www.documentary.org/news/awards-roundup-june-9-15-2010
  13. "Shocking story of homeless family". Daily Mirror. 13 March 2009.
  14. "Save the Family charity at Plas Bellin, Northop Hall, to feature in TV documentary Sofa Surfers". 13 March 2009.
  15. "Louise Carpenter on the plight of some of Britain's 130,000 homeless children". TheGuardian.com. 8 March 2009.
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