Pig in a poke: the rise and fall of a porcine role model

As parents criticise Peppa Pig for being a malign influence on children, Ellie Muir asks whether a badly behaved animated farm animal can ever really deserve such vehement antipathy

Reshmi Bennett, a bakery owner and children's author, was not prepared to lose her battle with TV's most divisive pig. Like so many youngsters, Bennett's six-year-old son had been wooed by the porky charms of Peppa Pig, the anthropomorphic superstar of children's animation. But once Bennett sat down to watch the programme with her little boy, she was horrified. “Peppa’s so dislikeable,” she tells me. “She’s rude, entitled and belittling. She’s also a sore loser and unsupportive of her friends. She fatshames her dad and ... [is] mean to her little brother.”

Bennett says her son quickly grew out of watching Peppa after he was put on a (potentially healthier) diet of Paw Patrol and Numberblocks. But her concerns about the character aren’t hers alone. They echo one of the great debates currently defining modern parenthood: is Peppa Pig a force for good or a force for unbridled evil? Is she too rude and entitled for the children who worship her? Or does she merely mirror childhood in all its complexity?

The four-year-old piglet undeniably has her good moments and her bad. Her programme, which began in 2004 and has kept her locked in preschool age ever since, takes viewers through her day-to-day activities. We’ve seen her and her brother George get covered in mud after diving into puddles in their garden. We’ve seen her play with her friend Suzy Sheep. We’ve seen her behave nicely when she visits the dentist. She’s adorable! Some of the time, anyway.