Children’s author Lauren Child had some surprising news for parents – TV is GOOD for kids.

The best-selling writer and illustrator of the Charlie And Lola and Clarice Bean books believes she wouldn’t be doing what she does if she hadn’t grown up a telly addict.

In her fascinating Brighton Festival talk, Lauren recalled constant arguments with her mum: “My mother said nothing good would come of me watching so much television but she was wrong – it’s been incredibly useful.”

It has, too, particularly the bromance between Starsky and Hutch. Unlikely as it sounds, the 1970s cop show helped influence her latest character, Ruby Redfort – a gutsy 13-year-old secret agent.
Lauren revealed: “I loved the way Starsky and Hutch ribbed each other, even though they loved each other. I use that with Ruby and her friends.”

She even set Ruby’s story in the 1970s before mobiles and computers, which led to the most important point of her sold-out talk – encouraging youngsters to use their imagination in a world where technology increasingly does the thinking for them.

Lauren said, “You can be whatever you want to be in your imagination. There are no boundaries to what you can do.”

Although a little bit of telly can help too.