Woman's Hour - 15/05/2009

With Jenni Murray. Are today's soap mums and dads out of date? Ena Sharples, Elsie Tanner, Peggy Mitchell, Pauline Fowler. The characterisation of strong women who keep families together through thick and thin, is seen as something soaps and dramas have done brilliantly, and it tends to be assumed that celebrating women in this way is a good thing. But is it really serving mothers to be represented as stoic survivors, when so many on-screen fathers get to be feckless and fancy-free? In the wake of the national soap awards television writer, Martin Jameson and David Bartlett, Deputy Chief Executive for the Fatherhood Institute join Jenni to discuss why some think it’s time to redress the balance for both parents’ sake.