Tracy Beaker was my favourite TV show as a child but hearing about this coming out I wasn’t too excited, and from watching it I clearly was right.

My Mum Tracy Beaker follows Tracy Beaker as an adult now who has a daughter. We see where she has come in her life from the Dumping Ground, what has happened to Cam and Carly – her biological mum – as well as some other characters from her past that pop up too including Justin Littlewood.

It seems life hasn’t gone too well for her. She is living in a council flat on a pretty dire estate and is working many jobs just to be able to have the life her and her daughter need. But her daughter doesn’t see this is a bad thing, she sees this as something to be proud of because her mum works so hard to make everyone happy and she seems to enjoy her life. It’s only when things start to crack do we actually see that Tracy’s life isn’t as happy as her daughter originally thought.

Tracy meets a guy called Sean who she was apparently friends with when she was younger, although I do not remember this character from the Dumping Ground at all. They start a relationship and things move so quickly, there are a 100 red flags, and Tracy should’ve never been with him in the first place. I get watching it from a child’s perspective that this could be everything they want, he buys her daughter a dog that she was pining for because they couldn’t have one in their flat, he buys Tracy the pink Cadillac she told everyone her mum had when she was young, he lives in a mansion, he’s famous, he’s all these wonderful things but it all happened so quick it’s really disturbing to watch as an adult.

And then we get to the meat and potatoes of the series which is Sean cheating on Tracy. We see the cheating happen from a child’s perspective so it’s quite light but there are hints at more ‘adult content’ too which I did appreciate. Like Tracy’s daughter saying that the other woman sent him pictures or that she saw them kissing, but it’s never too heavy, it’s all quite primary school really.

And that’s my biggest issue with this show is I don’t think the creators knew who the target audience was. The show was put on CBBC like the old Tracy Beaker’s were but Tracy Beaker came out in the late 90s early 2000s so most of the audience of that show are adults now. Why would kids be interested in a show that they have no nostalgic feeling over?

If this show had been put on BBC Three for example and we were able to dive more into Tracy seeing her act in an adult way and have adult issues then the show could’ve been much more enjoyable. Then the people watching it would’ve been able to relate and being able to see one of their childhood characters going through the same trauma that they might be going through could be quite comforting to some.

But the show was filmed as if it was for children. It had the complexities of adult life but from a child’s point of view and so watching it as an adult it was quite jarring and hard to connect with. I found Jess (the daughter) insufferable, she was such an annoying child and people say ‘oh well Tracy was too’ yes, but Tracy was insufferable in an angry way. Jess was insufferable in a self righteous way and watching her really annoyed me. I didn’t care about Jess, I didn’t care about her story, all I care about is Tracy because Tracy is the person I grew up with and Tracy is the one I want to watch.

This show had a real issue with knowing who it was trying to target and that’s why I think it fell flat for me. It just wasn’t up to the standard that I expected and it was made too simple for a child audience to watch when I really doubt if we looked at the numbers children did watch it. I think this could’ve been a really good idea but unfortunately it just didn’t work out and I wouldn’t watch it again.

There was the idea of it being continued and of course there is a whole book about My Mum Tracy beaker and so maybe there are more complex parts that we can delve into more. But if they’re going to keep it in the same childish format that this was then it’s going to be a train wreck and it’s not going to be enjoyable for anyone.

What did you think of My Mum Tracy beaker?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding