Artsnight with Lily Cole review – do kids get in the way of creativity?

“There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall,” said the critic Cyril Connolly. In this Artsnight (BBC2), Lily Cole – model, actor, entrepreneur – sets out to find out whether he was right. With a personal interest, and an impartiality. She already has the pram, though it won’t be filled for another month or so (at time of filming). She’s very much hoping that her baby won’t sound the death knell for her own creativity.

Barbara Hepworth did it with four, including three at the same time. But then, when the triplets were toddlers, they were sent away to a residential nursery. A what? What an excellent idea. Why don’t these places still exist, and if they do what is their phone number, please?

In the most interesting section of the programme, Lionel Shriver – best known for a book that doesn’t exactly encourage procreation – makes the case for and explains her own childlessness. That word – childlessness – sounds negative, as if we should feel sorry for her; it isn’t and we shouldn’t. She could have had kids – biologically, financially. She opted not to, as more and more working women in the developed world are doing, for the sake of not just her work (her books are her children) but her happiness. Selfish? Yeah, maybe – and why not?

Then Lily goes to see the brilliant poet Hollie McNish, whose verse is actually powered and was changed by her experience of becoming a mum. Followed by husband-and-wife Mabas (middle-aged British artists) Gavin Turk and Deborah Curtis, who are also inspired by parenthood and run a charity which aims to get hold of the imaginations of kids and their parents.

So, it seems old Cyril was both right and wrong: it depends on the artist. And whether Lily’s own creativity dies when she becomes a mother is down to her. Given that she’s determined it won’t, and has embarked upon a career as a TV presenter while eight months pregnant, I’d say her chances look pretty good.

It’s not a bad start to her new career phase: she’s clearly brainy, interested and engaged. Just remember, you’re trying to get these people to say interesting things, not like you and make friends with you – that’d be my only advice.