Channel 4 commissions Born Famous from Studio Ramsay

8 August 2018

 

In a new four-part series for Channel 4, the teenage offspring of some of Britain’s most successful self-made celebrities will be given a unique opportunity.

For one week they’ll each be invited to live the life they would have lived had their parents not found fame. They will be sent to the communities their superstar parents grew up in, to discover what their own lives would be like today and question how different it is being young in modern Britain from when their parents were growing up.

In a timely and revealing new documentary series, produced by Studio Ramsay, four teens with famous parents will have their ‘alternative life’ mapped out for them by leading social mobility experts.

Jack Ramsay, son of TV chef Gordon Ramsay, will live in Bretch Hill, Oxfordshire where his father lived as a teen before he found success; Phoenix Chi, daughter of Spice Girl and America’s Got Talent judge Mel B, will spend time in Hyde Park, Leeds; Bethany Mone, daughter of millionaire Ultimo founder Michelle Mone, will travel to the East End of Glasgow and Ria Ince, daughter of former Manchester United and England football captain Paul Ince, immerses herself in Dagenham, Essex.  

Each privileged teen will be paired with a local teenager to discover how their lives would have turned out if their parents hadn’t had the opportunities that came their way, while confronting feelings of privilege, class and celebrity and uncovering the realities of social mobility in 2018.

At a time when Britain is deeply divided and is one of the least socially mobile countries in Europe do these privileged teens think their parents would still have ‘made it’ in today’s Britain?  Are the academics right to say the opportunities their parents had are simply no longer there?

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Born Famous was commissioned by Channel 4 Head of Formats Dom Bird and Education commissioning editor Emily Jones and will be made by Studio Ramsay with executive producers Chris Brogden and Helen Cooke.

Emily Jones said: “There is a myth that talent will out whatever the circumstances. Using extraordinary access so some of our most successful celebrities, Born Famous is a novel way to explore the degree to which we’re all in denial about how hard it is to be young today.”

Helen Cooke added: “We’re hugely excited to be making this inspiring series which shows some of our biggest celebrities in a way you have never seen, through the eyes of their teenage children. It promises to be compelling TV as the famous teens come to terms with their own privilege, whilst delivering searingly honest accounts of what it is like for young people growing up in Britain today.”

ENDS