Balls orders review into the legislation protecting child performers

The move will be unlikely to affect straight entertainment programmes such as Britain’s Got Talent, in which Balls stresses children are properly looked after and both adults and children audition in front of a panel of celebrity judges for solely entertainment purposes.

Children could be potentially banned from appearing on reality television shows amid fears of exploitation by programme makers concentrating on shock value.

The review comes after the government said young people were often put in “stressful” situations by producers who put shock value before protecting a child.

Programmes were identified such as Channel 4’s Boys and Girls Alone, in which 20 children were left alone and filmed in an isolated cottage in Cornwall. The youngsters fought with each other and cried, and parents were called in to intervene.

Balls stated that as a country we should continue celebrating brilliant performances of children in stage shows like Billy Elliot and programmes like Britain’s Got Talent and that it is right for children to keep aspiring to appear on such shows.

He emphasised that the area where we have to be concerned is the ‘grey’ area between factual television and performance and entertainment:

“It will be no secret that we were concerned about Boys and Girls Alone last year, where children are put into a trial situation which isn’t real but isn’t performance and entertainment either.

“There, at the moment, the regulations just don’t really apply. That can be very stressful and difficult and we wouldn’t want children to feel under pressure in a damaging way in those situations."