This film is part of Free

Passive Smoking: Smoking Kids

Chilling anti-smoking public information film focusing on the danger that passive smoking poses to children.

2003 1 mins

Overview

Produced as part of the government's £1m Passive Smoking campaign, comprising a series of hard-hitting TV fillers, Smoking Kids coincided with a call from Sir Liam Donaldson, England's Chief Medical Officer, for an all-out ban on smoking in enclosed public places. Its visual conceit is as simple as it is effective: soothing strains of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' accompanies footage of small children who seem to be exhaling cigarette smoke.

Although the 2007 legislation against smoking in public places is now widely accepted, it's revealing to see how forcefully the legislation's virtues had to be conveyed at the time. This government film is a public record, preserved and presented by the BFI National Archive on behalf of The National Archives, home to more than 1,000 years of British history.