IFTA nominated Irish director Neasa Hardiman’s latest project ‘Tracy Beaker’s Return’ will broadcast from today, Friday, January 8th. IFTN spoke with Neasa, lead director for the series which marks the return of Tracy Beaker to BBC children’s drama programming.
The Tracy Beaker series has proved popular since its launch on BBC in 2002 and the new series is again based on Jacqueline Wilson's darkly comic character Tracy Beaker, an angry abandoned child lost in the care system.
In ‘Tracy Beaker’s Return’, Tracy is twenty years old. She's still angry, occasionally violent, but also strong, funny and loyal. She returns (very reluctantly) to the care home where she spent so many years in order to work as a care assistant where she meets other young people like her, each with their own problems. Each episode focuses on one of the Home's denizens as they come to terms with their own past and try to map a better future.
Neasa Hardiman is the director of the TV drama ‘Totally Frank’ for Channel Four and the feature dramas ‘The Naked Extremist’ for TG4 and ‘School Run’ for TV3. She has also helmed award winning documentaries and factual programming such as ‘Black Box’, ‘TX’, ‘Prime Time’ and ‘Home’.
‘Tracy Beaker’s Return’ marks a new departure for the director – a foray into children’s drama and Neasa explains to IFTN that she took on the challenge for several reasons: “I knew the producer of the series, Gina Cronk, and we had wanted to work together for a while,” she tells us. “So when she suggested getting involved with the ‘Tracy Beaker’ series I was delighted. We talked a lot about the fact that it was children’s programming – a genre that I often have a bee in my bonnet about. I think a lot of children’s programming nowadays leaves a lot to be desired, I would be of the same opinion as Neil Gaiman who says ‘There is no such thing as children’s drama, there is only good drama or bad drama’.”
Neasa goes on to explain that the pressure was high as prior to the shoot she was told that Tracy Beaker books are the most borrowed in British Libraries – and so began the daunting task of bringing such a beloved character to the screen. But did Neasa feel the need to remain faithful to Tracy’s origins – Jacqueline Wilson’s bestselling books? “I was in the happy position of being lead director of a new series,” she says. “I felt some productions depicting Tracy Beaker in the last few years had strayed too far from the books so I’ve brought the series back to it’s roots. I worked with the writers (Elly Brewer and Ben Ward) in setting the tone for the series but ultimately my goal in making the show was to respect my audience – young teenagers – and their problems be they physical changes, sexuality, problems at home etc.”
The series of books and previous television series featuring Tracy Beaker deal with serious problems associated with foster children and the childcare system in Britain and Neasa tells us that this series will continue this very honest reflection on society: “We are introduced to many new characters in this series, all of whom arrive with baggage and problems. One boy and girl arrive from an abusive home where their father is violent and we see this carried on in the next generation where the brother is physically abusive towards his little sister. And what’s important here is that we show that there is no simple solution to this sort of problem.”
‘Tracy Beaker’s Return’ is, interestingly, the first time both director and producer have worked on children’s programming which, one assumes, promoted a new take on the genre. “Yes, I think the difference is that we didn’t approach the programme as a drama for children, we just set about making good quality drama. If you make good programmes you get the target audience, regardless of what age group they are – that’s my belief.”
Full of praise for the young actors involved in the series, with particular emphasis on Dani Harmer who plays the title role of Tracy, Neasa leaves us with the words “The value of this sort of drama is that we can bring up all these hard hitting issues – physical abuse, the foster care system and the teenage years and the trouble that entails – and deliver it in a very honest way but with touches of humour too.”
Neasa is currently in post-production with her latest project, an experimental art film made with the aid of the Irish Arts Council. The fifteen minute film, written, directed and produced by Neasa features five groups of performance artists and takes a non-narrative form. Entitled ‘This is Going to Take More Than One Night’, Neasa plans to screen it at galleries and festivals throughout the coming year. She was recently invited to speak at York University in March on genre and enculturation in relation to Jane Campion's feature film ‘Bright Star’.
’Tracy Beaker’s Return’ will broadcast on every Friday, starting on January 8th on BBC1 at 5.15pm.
