If you were a kid or a tween in the late 90s and early 00s, chances are high that you watched a Nickelodeon production.

For more than 15 years, shows including The Amanda Show, Drake & Josh and iCarly dominated children's TV and significantly raised the star profile of their creator, Dan Schneider.

But, as shown in new documentary Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, the upbeat shows hid a much more uncomfortable, and sometimes abusive, environment behind the scenes.

Who is Dan Schneider?

Originally entering the industry as an actor in network sitcoms including Head of the Class, Schneider moved into the world of children's television as a writer for Nickelodeon sketch show All That (kind of like Saturday Night Live for kids).

He then created a number of ratings juggernauts for Nickelodeon, including The Amanda Show in 1999, Drake & Josh in 2004, iCarly in 2007 and Victorious in 2010.

Schneider's shows launched the careers of then-baby Amanda Bynes, Ariana Grande and Kenan Thompson. In 2007, The New York Times called him the "Norman Lear of children's television".

But in 2018, Nickelodeon announced it was parting ways with Schneider and his production company following an internal investigation. Schneider then went on "hiatus" for three years.

While he was gone, and in the wake of #MeToo, the rumours of Schneider creating "hostile work environments" gained strength. Former stars of his shows publicly shared their experiences, and video compilations of inappropriate jokes written by Schneider for his young cast went viral on social media.

In 2021, The New York Times ran a profile on Schneider where he defended his practices and rejected claims he sexualised his young cast.

'Nickelodeon's Golden Boy' and a workers' nightmare

Much of the conflict detailed in Quiet on Set revolves around testimonies from former employees of Schneider.

In episode one, the documentary introduces two women writers: Christy Stratton and Jenny Kilgen.

The two women were both hired to write for The Amanda Show, but were told they would have to split a single salary. Kilgen said she was then threatened by Schneider when she reported the conditions to the writers guild.

Kilgen and Stratton say working on the show could be exciting, but then Schneider would show workers pornography, ask for massages or verbally belittle staff.

Kilgen also shares a story involving Stratton and "the wrongest thing I've ever seen happen to a woman in a professional environment ever".

They were in the writers' room working on scenes for a young girl, and Stratton was sharing a story about her own high school experience.

"Dan just said, 'Do you know what would be funny? If you leaned over the table and acted like you were getting sodomised and told that story,'" Kilgen details.

Stratton originally refused to, but eventually did it after repeated pushing from Schneider.

"I just think about that poor girl and what she had to go through," says Stratton, reflecting on her younger self.

At the end of the first season Stratton was fired, but Kilgen returned. Four days into the second season Kilgen quit the show after Schneider accused her of being a sex worker while she was trying to pitch a sketch.

"It was so devastating, it was so hard … there was no way I was going to be the only woman in that world with him," Kilgen says.

She went on to sue the show's production company in 2000 for gender discrimination, a hostile work environment, and harassment, with a letter of support from Stratton. In response, Nickelodeon did an internal investigation.

"They settled, but it had a lasting impact on my career," Kilgen says.

"I knew this would be the end of my career so this had better be worth it; it better stop."

Scheinder continued to work with Nickelodeon for another 18 years.

Paedophiles on set

The series scrutinises more than just Schneider, but also the men who worked for him.

First we meet MJ, the mother of Brandi, who was a child extra on The Amanda Show. MJ says the production assistant Jason Handy emailed a sexual photo of himself to her 11-year-old daughter.

In 2003, Handy was arrested for "lewd acts with children", with the arrest press release asserting that he met some of those children on set. He was sentenced to six years in prison.

The documentary then introduces Brian Peck, a dialogue coach on multiple Nickelodeon shows, who had previously featured as "Pickleboy" in All That.

Multiple former child stars from All That recall the day they were told by network executives that Peck had been arrested on 11 charges of child sexual abuse, related to a child actor.

Until the release of Quiet on Set, the identity of the child actor involved in the case has remained a secret.

Then Drake & Josh's Drake Bell walks into the room.

Bell recounts the evolution of his and Peck's relationship — from going to his house after hours for tutoring, to being allowed to spend the night at Peck's in order to attend LA auditions. (Brian Peck has no relationship to Bell's co-star Josh Peck).

It was at one of these sleepovers, Bell says, that he woke up to Peck sexually assaulting him. He was 15 at the time.

"I froze. I was in shock. I didn't know what to do," Bell says.

Peck had already isolated Bell from his father and convinced his mother he was a safe person in Bell's life.

"Any time I had an audition, any time I needed to work on dialogue, I somehow always ended up at Brian's house. It just got worse and worse and worse. I was just trapped and I had no way out," Bell says.

Bell looks physically uncomfortable as he tries to find the words to describe his ordeal with Peck.

It was the mother of Bell's then-girlfriend who eventually became wary of Peck after she witnessed repeated phone calls from the adult to the child. This led to Bell sharing his secret, and then a police sting where Peck confessed.

Elephants in the room

Bell recounts that, on the day of Peck's sentencing, Peck's entire side of the courtroom was full of supporters.

Bell addressed his sentencing statement in the courtroom not to Peck but to those supporters.

Business Insider uncovered 41 letters of support for Peck, including from actors such as James Marsden and Taran Killam. It's unclear if the people writing the letters knew the full extent of Peck's crimes.

In 2004, Peck pled no contest to two charges of child sexual abuse. He received a sentence of 16 months in jail and had to register as a sex offender.

By 2006, Peck was back working in children's TV, this time on Disney's The Suite Life of Zack & Cody.

There is a cloud that hangs over Bell's heart-wrenching confession.

In 2021, Bell pled guilty to charges of attempted child endangerment in relation to text messages he sent to a minor. He was sentenced to two years probation and 200 hours of community service.

"I took responsibility for that, did what was asked of me, but the media grabbed onto so much misinformation and it absolutely destroyed me and I started to spin out of control," Bell says.

"I was at rock bottom, so I checked in for treatment. I got to go through a lot of trauma therapy, a lot of grief therapy, and be surrounded by a lot of people who, for the first time in a long time, wanted to see me get better."

Calls for better environment for kids

There's numerous other instances in Quiet on Set of Schneider's former stars calling out what they saw while working for Nickelodeon.

But as adults, they are all calling for one thing: for it to never happen again.

"Most people financially reward these shows without knowing what happens behind the scenes," says former Zoey 101 star Alexa Nikolas, who dubbed Schneider "the creator of childhood trauma".

"It unfortunately takes the people who witnessed these things and experienced these things to speak up to really change it."

Quiet on Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV is on ID, Binge and Fetch from April 20.