Just as lots of parents are spending more time with their kids, we’ve delivered a series of comedy shorts to BBC Learning’s Tiny Happy People campaign. Called Awkward Silences, the films are destined for the BBC website and social media platforms and take a light-hearted look at parenting young children.
This series forms part of a major initiative from the BBC aimed at encouraging parents to talk with their children more, at an early age. Research shows that this simple interaction has a big impact on development of language and social skills.
The films were great fun to film and edit, as we improvised the dialogue with our team of actors, based on storylines we’d developed with the BBC Learning team in Salford. This unscripted approach of rehearse, improvise, record is something we’ve done many times in the past, including on the BBC Wales Bafta-winning comedy series Scrum 4.
Actors Jalisa Andrews and Elin Pavli-Hinde in ‘Regifting’, one of nine films in the Awkward Silences series