Linda Matthews has rarely had to stop a production in its tracks. Steve Stone\u2019s 2017 psychological horror In Extremis was an exception. Set on an isolated country estate during an apocalyptic storm, it follows a family that have to confront the oncoming disaster and their own personal demons to survive. For Matthews, however, the real drama unfolded behind the camera. \u201cI don\u2019t mind being the big bad person,\u201d she says. \u201cI was working with a young girl who was playing a cancer patient. She had to wear a bald cap and everything. Just as we were about to film, she burst into tears. She told me it reminded her of her friend\u2019s mum, who was going through cancer treatment. That was the end of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
You may assume Matthews is a producer or a very hands-on investor, but you would be mistaken. After leaving a career in banking, she founded Premier Chaperones in 2010 and has spent the past 15 years safeguarding children on some of the world\u2019s biggest film and television sets.<\/p>\n
By law, all children under 16 on UK film and television sets require a chaperone. In practice, the role means shapeshifting between that of a pseudo-social worker \u2013 making sure children are fed and watered, rested and protected from harm \u2013 surrogate parent, and when necessary stand-in sheriff, reinforcing the boundaries of the law.<\/p>\n
Unlike fellow crew members, chaperones have a duty to protect the child, not the production. Vetted through enhanced DBS checks and licensed by local authorities \u2013 some of which ask for safeguarding training and references, others requiring applicants to pass the first stage of a social worker\u2019s assessment \u2013 they enforce child performance regulations, and have the authority to call time on a shoot when a child is distressed, regardless of the wishes of executives or its impact on the production company\u2019s bottom line.<\/p>\n
The rules are undeniably strict, forged by cautionary tales such as Judy Garland\u2019s, whose childhood was sacrificed at Hollywood\u2019s altar. Aged 13, she signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the studio which controlled her diet of black coffee, chicken soup and cigarettes, while routinely supplying her with amphetamines. She would later die from an accidental barbiturate overdose aged 47.<\/p>\n
Garland\u2019s experience was sadly no anomaly. In 2022, more than 50 years after starring in Franco Zeffirelli\u2019s Romeo and Juliet, Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting sued Paramount Pictures alleging child abuse and sexual exploitation. Both were minors when they starred in the Oscar-winning movie, and they claimed they had been promised flesh-coloured undergarments for an intimate bedroom scene, only to be persuaded by Zeffirelli to shoot nude in order to ensure the film\u2019s artistic vision and commercial success.<\/p>\n
Although the courts dismissed the case<\/a>, it posed the uncomfortable question of how much agency a minor has, when creative licence can hold more weight than a child\u2019s ability to say no. Accounts such as these also help explain the penalties productions can face if they breach modern safeguarding rules. In the UK, fines can reach up to \u00a31,000 per offence, with the most serious violations carrying a custodial sentence of up to six months.<\/p>\n Yet despite decades of reform, the entertainment industry\u2019s reckoning with child safety remains a work in progress. In the 2024 documentary Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV<\/a>, former Nickelodeon star Drake Bell alleged that he was sexually abused at the age of 15 by dialogue coach Brian Peck, who was later convicted of child sexual abuse offences.<\/p>\n Such incidents reveal the true value of having someone like Matthews in a child\u2019s corner. Although chaperones are often dismissed as little more than glorified prefects, they are the last line of defence for some of the most vulnerable people on set, ensuring that under-16s don\u2019t share toilets or changing facilities with adults, and that children with medical conditions have immediate access to any medication they may need.<\/p>\n