Categories will boost visibility of shows in a new, fractured media landscape

Children’s television was once a thriving, fantastical realm, peopled by Wombles, Tweenies and Danger Mouse – not to mention a car called Brum, an engine called Ivor and a dog called Roobarb – and British-made shows were available every day on the major terrestrial channels. Since then, the magic has largely retreated to the margins of broadcasting.

But the embattled landscape is to receive a high-profile boost from Bafta, the Observer has learned. After prolonged campaigning from influential figures such as the former PlaySchool presenter Floella Benjamin, the children’s maths whiz Johnny Ball, the Dr Who writer Russell T Davies and Anne Wood, a veteran creator of worldwide hits such as Teletubbies, Bafta is to recognise the inventive work that is still entertaining Britain’s children. The British Academy has created three high-profile awards to sit alongside the trophies it hands out to adult television shows. The new categories will go some way to replace Bafta’s abandoned children’s TV awards event.