Fatherhood in an historical and contemporary context is celebrated in this season of TV programmes encompassing documentary, science, drama, and entertainment on BBC4 in the week following Fathers Day in the UK.  Among other things, these programmes re-write the history of modern fatherhood, looking beneath the social stereotypes – frequently based more in myth than in reality – which have shaped our thinking about men in families.

Look out for these wonderful programmes from Monday 21st June on BBC4.  Go to the BBC website  http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/ and find your way from there . . .

Overseas viewers who do not receive this TV channel should be able to watch these programmes online on the BBC website in the week following transmission.

Programmes in the season

A Century Of Fatherhood – a three-part series – begins the whole BBC 4 season of programmes at 9.00 pm on Monday 21st June.  This three-part series uses moving testimony from dads of all ages (and their children) to chart the revolution in fatherhood in Britain and provide a unique insight into 100 years of dramatic change.  The Fatherhood Institute contributed substantially to this programme – and our Head of Research, Adrienne Burgess, appears in it, as do several fathers who came forward because we sent out a ‘call for participants’ to our database.
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The Biology Of Dads. This programme is scheduled for the Tuesday evening (22nd June).  In it child psychologist Laverne Antrobus investigates the psychology of families, revealing the extraordinary biological changes that occur in fathers.   This programme features the Fatherhood Institute’s HIT THE GROUND CRAWLING peer-support programme for expectant fathers – the course in this programme taking place in Burntwood.
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Disappearing Dad. Fathers in literature are often missing, marginalised or regarded as an embarrassment. Novelist Andrew Martin takes a light-hearted journey through three centuries of literary fatherhood.
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Lennon Naked. John Lennon’s role as a father, and the impact of the brief and unhappy reappearance of his own absent father into his life, is the focal point of this drama, in which Christopher Eccleston stars.
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Men About The House charts the evolution of the role of the British father as seen through the lens of situation comedies from the Fifties to the modern day.
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Extracts from these programme could make powerful items to be used in training or in the classroom.

Precise programme times will be given on the BBC website.  To find them, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/ and make your way from there . . .

Happy viewing!