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Channel 4 slammed over scenes of teenage heroin use

December 08 2010
Charities accuse broadcaster of irresponsibility and exploitation


Channel 4 has come under fire after broadcasting scenes of a 16-year-old girl shooting up on a hard-hitting documentary about homeless teenagers, aired last month.

Dispatches: Britain's Street Kids showed footage of 16-year-old Robyn squatting in the filthy stairwell of an underground Edinburgh car park and injecting heroin into the back of her hand before she loses consciousness, the syringe still dangling from her body.

A leading drugs charity has condemned the footage as irresponsible and accused the broadcaster of exploitation. Mike Linnell, the spokesman for the charity, Lifeline, said: "A young girl like Robyn can't give informed consent. She won't understand that the image of her shooting up will be broadcast around the world and last forever. I know addicts who have been traumatised and humiliated by footage like this following them for many years."

The producers of the documentary, which was made in consultation with two homeless charities, have defended their decision to show Robyn injecting the drug. Executive producer Brain Woods said that to avoid showing these scenes would have been misleading. "This is what Robyn does every day, several times a day," he said. "We needed to show it to communicate the sordid, horrible reality of her life."

In a statement, Channel 4 fought back against accusations of exploitation: "Robyn wanted to take part in the film to tell her story and show the reality of her life in all its detail. The production team are very experienced in working with young people and drug addicts – they ensured Robyn was fully informed and happy to proceed before any filming took place."

Robyn represents the hundreds of British young people forced to leave home every day because of family breakdown, addiction, abuse and neglect. The Children's Society estimates that more that 100,000 teenagers under 16 run away each year, and homelessness charities Railway Children and Shelter predict that the number young people living on the streets will become ever greater as a result of the Comprehensive Spending Review. Dispatches: Britain's Street Kids, broadcast on 1 November at 8pm on Channel 4, is now available on 4od.co.uk.

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