Article: Television Their hearts wide open

Handing under-10-year-olds digital cameras to record their lives and thoughts might seem a recipe for sick-making cutesiness and a 10- hankie dose of sentimentality. But if the next five programmes in the series My Life as a Child (BBC2, Tuesdays) are only a fraction as good as the first, they will be essential viewing. The opening film was called Distant Dads, and it was by turns captivating, endearing, unbearably sad and utterly life-affirming.

Its three protagonists were all from broken homes; all had fathers living abroad. Mary, nine, from Bristol, introduced herself by saying: "I think I've got a good, natural heart - and I'm really fast at running.'' Ellen, eight, from Cardiff, opened ...

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