‘Almost 1 million British school children are already obese’, states the voice on the second episode of Channel 4’s latest commission: Generation XXL, a documentary series tracking the lives of several obese kids from childhood to late teens.

Over the coming years, Generation XXL will give us the opportunity to see life through the eyes of Libby, Kelsie, and Lucas (all aged 7), as well as 6 year old Bethany. The programme is designed to show Britain what it really feels like to be growing up fat.

The new year always brings with it new dieting programming to help women drop a dress size. However, these frivolities provide light entertainment compared with Generation XXL which seems to be laced with overtones of tragedy: you can’t help but feel sorry for these poor kids. With obesity an ever-growing issue, I can’t help but wonder: who or what is the cause of this big problem and what can be done to fix it?

What struck me on watching the show was how innocent these young children are. Libby thinks chicken is a vegetable, Lucas clutches at his stomach and tells us: ‘you can see the fatness there’ and when Bethany is asked what she wants to be when she grows up she replies: ‘a Mcdonalds server’. Their cheery faces highlight their blissful ignorance to the danger being done to their bodies.

Surely their parents would be desperate to change their ways, as they seem to be entirely to blame? Not so, to most viewers I imagine it came as no surprise to see that the majority of the parents were obese also. Worse, the mothers all used the same unacceptable reason for their children’s weight: it’s not fair to deny them anything.

This is absurd: surely any rational person can see that it’s not ‘fair’ to let the children become obese. Most of the mothers seemed genuinely distraught and ashamed, but Bethany’s mother delivered flippant responses in refusal to accept the seriousness of her daughter’s weight saying: ‘she’ll always be my little girl, whatever size, I don’t care’. Is it the children or the parents that need educating on these issues?

Kelsie’s mum prepares a balanced evening meal telling the cameras: ‘I can’t work out why we’re that fat’, before being interrupted by her daughter cheekily revealing: ‘but when you’re not here filming we have a takeaway!’ Here, demonstrates the problem: the parents. When children are at such a crucial age they are perceptive to their guardians who carry the responsibility for the habits their children will then adopt. So does the problem lie at home?

With Jamie Oliver’s attempt to implement healthier school dinners across Britain, some effective changes were made. Dinner ladies across the country now dish up balanced meals, abolishing the greasy chips and processed meats. This is a great scheme, yes? Well, not according to Bethany’s mum who says that she doesn’t agree with healthy meals being forced on to children, instead they should have the freedom of choice. She declares: ‘she wouldn’t be Bethany if she wasn’t big.’

The kids undergo medical trials for research into child obesity, which includes a psychological assessment involving a scale of pictures ranging from obese to anorexic. The children are asked to point to a picture of how they want to be; worryingly Libby expresses the choice to look like the anorexic picture. The current media climate is constantly accused of projecting an unhealthy body image on young girls, impacting self-esteem and relationships with food. Libby seems to be lost in what constitutes a healthy middle ground.

The medical trials do alter the majority of the parents’ view and as a result we see the children taking part in after school clubs involving exercise. Other small changes such as supplying packed lunches for controlled eating are made, but the cynic in me wonders if these changes will last. For the children’s sake, I hope they do.