BBC Children in Need campaign puts the project worker by the side of every child

BBC Children in Need has turned its attention away from the fundraising fun and towards the people its money pays for. The charity’s new film, By the Side of Every Child, made by BBC Creative, follows a teenager and the project worker who slowly earns his trust, as Creative Review reported. It runs in the build-up to the BBC’s annual appeal night on 13 November.

Two sides of one relationship

The film follows Kai, played by Ethan Darby, a teenager who is reluctant to let anyone in, and Ryan, played by Charlie Rix, a project worker who is determined to reach him. It is told from both of their perspectives, so the nervous silences and setbacks are seen from each side before trust starts to build. There is no big rescue scene, just small moments that add up over time.

It was directed by Phoebe Arnstein through Biscuit Filmworks, with Michael Dymek as director of photography. Arnstein said she talked to professionals in the field before the shoot, and wanted to show a support worker who does not have every answer from the start, because “the story of the support worker is often overlooked”.

At BBC Creative, the work was led by executive creative director Richard Biggs, with creative director Simon Lotze and creatives Emma Tolley and Dave Monk. A 60-second cut is on the charity’s own YouTube channel.

Why it matters

Charity advertising in the weeks before Christmas is crowded, and much of it leans on shock tactics or celebrity. This film does neither. By putting the youth worker at the centre, Children in Need is explaining what a donation actually pays for, which is a harder message to land than a single moving case study.

The charity says donations helped more than 363,000 children and young people across the UK in 2024/25, and this is the kind of patient, unglamorous work behind that number. It sits alongside other recent charity work that has swapped the hard sell for something quieter, from Alzheimer’s Research UK’s The First One to Comic Relief’s deadpan take on the bystander effect.

For UK agencies, it is also a reminder that restraint and strong casting can still carry a short film. Two well-judged performances do most of the work here, and the in-house team at BBC Creative has produced one of the more carefully crafted charity spots of the autumn.