Child on the Line

Childhood has changed beyond recognition since 1986. In this final episode, Natalie Dormer asks who is responsible for keeping children safe online, as exploitation rises and AI brings new risks barely yet understood. On stage at SXSW London with NSPCC Chief Executive Chris Sherwood and members of the NSPCC's Child Safety Online Taskforce, Natalie calls on tech companies to take responsibility for the platforms where children spend so much of their lives. She speaks to Tony Fitzgerald of Kids Helpline, Australia, about what that country's under-16s social media ban has, and hasn't, achieved. We hear from Naomi, who went from contacting Childline to being one of its youngest Counsellors, and discover how Childline is harnessing technology to give Counsellors more time with children. And why, forty years on, the service still depends on volunteers and donations to answer every child who reaches out. Rebecca Wilcox closes with a moving story her mother once told her, a poignant, fitting ending to the series. Trigger warnings: Self-harm: 5:48–6:29 If you need support: Childline (for children and young people under 19): 0800 11 11 · childline.org.uk NSPCC Helpline (for adults worried about a child): 0808 800 5000 · nspcc.org.uk NAPAC (for adults abused as children): 0808 801 0331 · napac.org.uk Samaritans (for anyone, 24 hours a day): 116 123 · samaritans.org Internet Watch Foundation (report child sexual abuse images or videos, anonymously; under 18? Use Report Remove on childline.org.uk): iwf.org.uk CSA Centre (research, data and resources for anyone working with children): csacentre.org.uk Credits: Hosted, exec produced and co-written by Natalie Dormer Production, interviews and sound design by Phoebe McIndoe Theme and additional composition by Gary Hickeson Operations, marketing and distribution managed by Helen Parker Special thanks to Kids Helpline (Aus), OG Podcasts & Quercine Ltd An independent Dog Rose production, supported by the NSPCC, with special thanks to Sarah Pickstone and the team © 2026 Dog Rose Productions

Childline answers a child every 45 seconds. Natalie Dormer goes inside a Childline shift to meet the Volunteer Counsellors who listen, from the morning briefing to the high-risk hours of the Night Service. Among them is Matt, who wrote to Childline as a frightened ten-year-old and treasured the reply so much he became a Counsellor himself, and Rebecca Wilcox, Deputy President of Childline and Dame Esther Rantzen's daughter, who trained as a Counsellor to carry on her mother's legacy. We learn what twelve weeks of training teaches, and hear about the counselling sessions that stay with Counsellors long after they've gone home. We meet Rosa, who at seven stood outside a phone box with the number memorised but never picked up, because nobody had told her Childline wouldn't automatically report to the police. And we learn about the power of Childline's unique confidentiality promise, which it constantly reviews and fights to keep. Plus, the NSPCC Volunteers visiting primary schools nationwide to make sure children know the Childline number and how to recognise abuse. Trigger warnings: Suicide or suicidal ideation: 19:00–20:50 Sexual abuse and physical harm: 21:25–23:55 If you need support: Childline (for children and young people under 19): 0800 11 11 · childline.org.uk NSPCC Helpline (for adults worried about a child): 0808 800 5000 · nspcc.org.uk NAPAC (for adults abused as children): 0808 801 0331 · napac.org.uk Samaritans (for anyone, 24 hours a day): 116 123 · samaritans.org Internet Watch Foundation (report child sexual abuse images or videos, anonymously; under 18? Use Report Remove on childline.org.uk): iwf.org.uk CSA Centre (research, data and resources for anyone working with children): csacentre.org.uk Credits: Hosted, exec produced and co-written by Natalie Dormer Production, interviews and sound design by Phoebe McIndoe Theme and additional composition by Gary Hickeson Operations, marketing and distribution managed by Helen Parker Special thanks to OG Podcasts & Quercine Ltd An independent Dog Rose production, supported by the NSPCC, with special thanks to Sarah Pickstone and the team © 2026 Dog Rose Productions

In 1986, Esther Rantzen made a promise on national television: a free, confidential helpline that any child could call. On the first night, more than 50,000 children tried to get through. Esther was the face of That's Life!, watched by millions every weekend, and her team was receiving thousands of letters from children suffering sexual abuse, begging for help that no one else would give. With a small group of allies, and in the face of resistance from the establishment, she built something that had never existed before: a helpline run by volunteers. Told by those who were there, including That's Life! colleague Bryher Scudamore, Colin Butler, one of Childline's longest-serving Counsellors, who answered the phone on the opening night and still volunteers today, and Esther's daughter Rebecca Wilcox. We hear how a BT engineer's test number became one of the most famous in the UK (0800 11 11), and how the helpline quickly grew to listen to children about any concern, fear or hope. And we hear from Karen, one of that first wave of children trying to reach out, whose call to Childline, when she finally made it, changed the course of her life. In fact, saved it. Trigger warnings: Domestic violence and physical harm: 9:00–9:20 Sexual abuse and physical harm: 16:30–17:42, 21:19–23:55, 46:34–47:25 Suicide or suicidal ideation: 28:28–30:40 Miscarriage: 41:00–42:00 If you need support: Childline (for children and young people under 19): 0800 11 11 · childline.org.uk NSPCC Helpline (for adults worried about a child): 0808 800 5000 · nspcc.org.uk NAPAC (for adults abused as children): 0808 801 0331 · napac.org.uk Samaritans (for anyone, 24 hours a day): 116 123 · samaritans.org Internet Watch Foundation (report child sexual abuse images or videos, anonymously; under 18? Use Report Remove on childline.org.uk): iwf.org.uk CSA Centre (research, data and resources for anyone working with children): csacentre.org.uk Credits: Hosted, exec produced and co-written by Natalie Dormer Production, interviews and sound design by Phoebe McIndoe Theme and additional composition by Gary Hickeson Operations, marketing and distribution managed by Helen Parker Special thanks to OG Podcasts and Quercine Ltd An independent Dog Rose production, supported by the NSPCC, with special thanks to Sarah Pickstone and the team © 2026 Dog Rose Productions

In 1986, Esther Rantzen went live on BBC television with a promise no one had made before: any child, anywhere in the country, could pick up the phone and be heard. That night, more than 50,000 children tried to call. Forty years on, Childline answers a child every 45 seconds. In Child on the Line, actor and Childline ambassador Natalie Dormer travels to Childline bases across the UK to tell the story of how one woman's refusal to take no for an answer became a lifeline for millions, and to meet the people who keep it going: the volunteer counsellors who answer, the team who fought to build it, and the adults who, as children, made that call. Across three episodes, this documentary series celebrates Childline's 40th anniversary, goes inside a counselling shift, and asks what it will take to protect the next generation in a childhood being rewritten by social media and AI. Made by Dog Rose Productions with the support of the NSPCC. This series contains themes some listeners may find distressing, including child abuse and suicide; support resources are in the show notes. If you're under 19 and need to talk, contact Childline free on 0800 1111 or at childline.org.uk.