ABSTRACT
Programmes made for children represent an area of television output of special concern because of who their target audience is. While the occurrence of violence in programmes produced for the general audience, or for adults in particular, has generated some degree of concern, not least because of the fact that children may also watch these programmes, broadcasters' programme policies adopt a gradually more relaxed attitude towards the depiction of violence in programmes as the temporal distance from peak children's viewing times becomes greater. Indeed, there is a degree of acceptance of the view that violence may represent a vital ingredient in the telling of stories, whether in drama or in the news. It is generally hoped, however, that those parts of the transmission schedule which are reserved especially for children's programmes will be spared violence or, at least, violence in its more graphic forms.
