Simone Reddington

At the ripe old age of 23, I didn’t think that I would ever find myself watching children’s TV channels again, until this week when the star of CBBC’s most iconic TV series returned. I am, of course, talking about Tracy Beaker. 19 years after the first episode of The Story of Tracy Beaker aired, Dani Harmer reprised her legendary for the new series of My Mum Tracy Beaker, which revisits the feisty protagonist as a fully grown adult with a daughter of her own.

Like the vast majority of people in my generation, who were born in the 90s, my childhood was defined by my love for Tracy Beaker. I was completely obsessed with Jacqueline Wilson and single-handedly credit her for my love of reading and writing. Although Wilson’s work boasts of many other brilliant novels, The Story of Tracy Beaker is her most well known title and it holds a sacred place in my heart, due to the popular TV adaption. I’d read all of Jacqueline Wilson’s books on my own, but I would watch the CBBC adaption of The Story of Tracy Beaker with my brother and talk non-stop about it at school with my friends who weren’t as keen readers as I was. It was the show that everyone was obsessed with.

It was set in a children’s care home, known as the Dumping Ground, and is about the children who live there and the adventures that they get up to. Tracy Beaker is the main character and is by far the most outspoken and short-tempered of the residents. In every episode she gets herself into a lot of mischief, whether it’s a scheme with the other kids, or a fight with her arch-nemesis Justine Littlewood. Despite her bad-girl attitude, she had a huge heart and it was clear that Tracy had a lot of emotional vulnerabilities after being abandoned by her mother.

At the time, I loved watching TSOTB as it was the perfect mix between funny and sad. The humour never felt forced and its mature themes never patronised the younger audience. It was the perfect tea-time programme to watch after school, and I enjoyed watching the characters get into the trouble and escapades that I, as a fairly shy and quiet child at the time, could only dream of. However, as I reflected back on it this weekend as an adult, I can now truly appreciate what a brilliant and special T.V series that The Story of Tracy Beaker was for my generation who grew up in the early noughties.

Long before I knew what terms such as ‘woke’ or ‘diversity’ meant, I had access to Jacqueline Wilson’s books with her wide range of characters who represented the young people who are not often celebrated in traditional literature. I was lucky enough to have had a happy childhood where I was brought up with two loving parents, and although I had friends who lived in single-parent families, I didn’t know anyone who didn’t have any family to look after them. My classmates and I might not have been aware of children who grew up in care until slightly later in life, had it not been for Tracy Beaker and her friends in the Dumping Ground.

Obviously, I know that the care system is very different to the fictional portrayal that I watched a children’s drama and I am very privileged to have never had to experience it. However, as I do think it is important that other children are aware that families can be hugely different and that not everybody is fortunate to have a secure home. Looked after children are often unfairly presented in the media, and The Story of Tracy Beaker was ground-breaking in the way that tore down the stereotype of children who needed help from social services.  The characters weren’t presented as pitiful orphans, or hooligans to be feared.  The viewers simply saw them as normal children, just like them.

Each character had their own talents and interests, which the show’s producer celebrated within the episodes. Whether you were a sporty kid or a clever clogs, a chatterbox or a daydreamer, there was would be a child in the Dumping Ground who you relate to.  The cast were not like the polished child stars who we saw on the Disney Channel.  They didn’t have the latest toys and enviable wardobes, but looked just like any other children in a UK primary school.  There are so many Tracy Beaker memes and references on social media today as the show is the epitome of British culture in the mid-noughties that 20-somethings nostalgically remember from their childhoods.

Despite the mature themes that was reflected throughout the programme, it still retained it’s light-hearted humour and life in the Dumping Ground did appear to be quite fun to the viewer.  Obviously the show left out a lot of the darker elements of life in foster care to the young viewers; but there was always plenty of other children to play with and they got up to a lot of adventures.  They didn’t go on fancy holidays, or even leave the care home grounds in most episodes.  We entertained by watching them play truth or dare, or have food fights. The sort of priceless, innocent fun that we only experience as children.  

The characters were also very optimistic, and didn’t let their difficult circumstances prevent them from having hopes and dreams for their futures. Tracy, in particular, was very imaginative and had big ambitions to be a writer.  She was also very stubborn and didn’t let anyone stop her from doing what she wanted to do.  That resulted in her being seen as very naughty and cheeky in the eyes of some parents, but I think feisty characters like her are very important for younger audiences.  Tracy Beaker encouraged children, especially young girls, to express themselves and their frustrations of the world around them.  She did make plenty of mistakes (as all children do) but she learns from them, and is taught by her lovely social workers that it is okay to be imperfect.

The series did not end with Tracy finally being rescued by her glamorous mother like she always hoped she would. She is instead adopted by Cam, a slightly uncool, single woman who loves Tracy more than her biological mother ever could. Ultimately, The Story of Tracy Beaker taught us 90s babies that the life isn’t a fairy tale, and things don’t always end the way that we wanted them to. We can, however, come to terms with our circumstances and be hopeful that better things await us in the future. That’s a lesson that as relevant to us now in 2021 than ever before.

Thanks for all the memories Tracy x