What a controversial old time the BBC has had of late. Greg Dyke’s tangled resignation. Their complaint-gathering decision to screen (the fantastic) Jerry Springer: The Opera.

And now? Now their kid’s show The Tweenies (DVDs) – a bunch of scary big-headed freaks – has caused a ruckus.

The British Dental Health Foundation aren’t happy. Their problem lies with a song that The Tweenies are fond of singing – a merry little tune which advocates "eating sweets the whole day through."

The BBC claim that the dentists are all mistaken; that the song has been taken out of context. Chief Dentist-man Dr Nigel Carter, though, believes that all kids have to do is hear the lyrics to be convinced that sugary snacks are the way, the truth and the light:

"Sweets for my breakfast, sweets for my lunch,
and sweets for my supper too.
Round ones, square ones, chocolatey eclair ones,
all for me to chew.
I’d be the king in the land of sweets
and munch the whole day through".

Not exactly the most responsible message to be hurling at our gogglebox-addicted kids, the doctor says. "Along with fizzy drinks, sweets are the main cause of tooth decay which affects around half of children in the UK," he fumed. "The BBC has a duty to provide young people with educational as well as entertaining content. On this occasion it has failed to do so."

The BBC are standing their ground, however, insisting that the song is part of a fantasy sequence which shows "the unhealthy consequences of eating too many sweets."

Apparently the whole shebang kicks off when Tweenie character Milo arrives at playgroup with a big bag of sweets and "refuses to share them with his friends". He then "stuffs himself with sweets and ends up feeling very sick – demonstrating very clearly that he gets his comeuppance."

hecklerspray says: serves the selfish bastard right. Nothing’s worse than someone who won’t hand out their Liquorice Allsorts.

Apart from those horrible Coconut ones, of course. You can keep those.

[story by C J Davies]