Channel 4 goes behind closed doors in 'Spying On My Family' (w/t)

26 July 2018

If you could watch everything that your family got up to, would it change the way you see them?

In Spying on My Family (w/t), a new format from The Garden Productions being piloted by Channel 4, one British family have volunteered to give up privacy for a week, with cutting-edge technology giving them complete access to each other’s day-to-day lives.

At the swipe of a finger, on specially-adapted smartphones, both parents and kids will be able to watch each other 24/7 - as well as being able to snoop on each other’s texts and online worlds.

At a time when privacy is a contentious issue, the family will explore if there is any anything to be said for giving it up. Using geo-trackers, screen-mirrored phones and remotely-watchable security cams - cutting-edge tech all already available to buy - each family member will be able to monitor every single action and interaction the others make.

Filming will take place both inside and outside the home, with cameras tracking every move in the family’s lives.  After the initial discomfort of seeing exactly what each other get up to, can total transparency open up new channels of communication and change the family’s relationships for the better?

Gilly Greenslade, Commissioning Editor for Factual Entertainment at Channel 4 said: "How much you can ever really know what your kids are getting up to is one of the perennial challenges of parenting, but in the age of smart phones and social media it can feel even more daunting. We love the idea of taking the phones and tablets that are so often the cause of arguments and anxiety in modern day family homes and updating them with the latest tech to give one family an extraordinary window into each other's lives.."

Spencer Kelly and Kate Collier for The Garden Productions added: “Great formats start with a single, simple up-top intervention. What is exciting about this one is that we genuinely had no idea how it would play out - we provided our family with the means, then left it to them. What unfolds is both hugely entertaining and profoundly moving, giving a privileged perspective on modern British family life.”

Spying on My Family (1 x 60’) was commissioned by Gilly Greenslade, Commissioning Editor for Factual Entertainment at Channel 4. It will be made by The Garden Productions. The Executive Producers are Spencer Kelly and Kate Collier, and the Producer Director is Chris Taylor. 

 

ENDS