KIDS THE GUNS: STACEY DOOLEY INVESTIGATES: Thursday 7th October, BBC3, 9pm ALERT ME

Stacey Dooley rose to moderate fame after taking part in a number of programmes looking at child labour in various third-world countries and BBC3 bosses were apparently so impressed with the fashion-obsessed Luton native that they sent her off to one of the worldâs most hostile environments: the Democratic Republic of Congo. They really know how to reward good work at the Beeb, donât they?

Stacey has no time for moping though, as she’s been sent to highlight the plight of children who have been dragged from their homes and forced to fight in the countless small-scale wars that make up the countryâs devastating wider conflict. We hear a fair bit about child soldiers; every few months a news article on the issue will surface and these man-boy fighters will fill us with pity and fear at the same time – kind of like George W. Bush. They look innocent and terrifying with their blank stares and AK-47s, but itâs not often that weâre given real insight into the gruesome detail of the world in which these children are forced to operate.

Stacey cries (of course) as she hears tales from boys as young as nine being forced to rape, kill and perhaps most shockingly, to drink the blood of their victims. Sheâs an engaging presenter, interacting with the children in a natural and sincere way and talking honestly and refreshingly inarticulately about her discomfort around boys whoâve raped and killed, where many TV personalities would have concealed their disquiet to the detriment of the viewerâs full grasp of the situation.

Despite her clear uneasiness, Stacey and her team progress through the timeline of a rescued boy-soldierâs experience, filming deep in the Congolese forest as two of them are saved from military life. The film is right to focus on the rehabilitation of these youngsters, instead of dwelling on the desperate misery of their fighting days, but format-wise, Kids With Gunsâ attractive-westerner-sympathises-with-wretched-third-worlders set-up doesnât show us anything we havenât seen before on similar programmes.

However, if the Stacey Dooley Investigates series can bring the story of these child-soldiers to the attention of its young audience – an audience to whom it needs explaining that UN stands for âUnited Nationsâ?, according to BBC3 â then it can only be a good thing.