Eden

15 July 2016

In March 2016 23 men and women entered Eden.  For an entire year the group - which includes a doctor, vet, chef, carpenter and shepherdess - will get the chance to start again, take on the challenge of building a new life and creating a society from scratch.  Together they will decide how they want to live as a community isolated from the rest of the modern world, in a remote area of the British Isles.

The series is filmed from the inside by an embedded crew, personal cameras and one of the largest and most remote fixed rigs created for television, across 600 acres of land in the Scottish Highlands.

With no prescribed infrastructure, the group will take in with them only what they can carry and the basics needed to kick start their experience, including the tools of their trade. What they do and how they do it is up to them.  The series will follow the groups’ journey as they debate their own rules and laws, decide if they want to live together or separately, accept majority decisions or do as each of them pleases.  Over 12 months, how will they work together to build their own shelter, grow their own food and raise their own livestock?

In Eden there are no tasks, no winner and it’s down to the contributors to shape what success looks like over the year. With many of the young contributors entering Eden feeling disillusioned with 21st century life, how will they fair when their future is in their own hands?

The series aims to challenge everything about modern living, raising questions about what we need to be happy, what we want from our communities and how we are influenced by society as a whole.

The series was commissioned for Channel 4 by Head of Entertainment Liam Humphreys and Factual Entertainment Commissioning Editor Ian Dunkley. It has been produced by KEO Films with Executive Producer Andrew Palmer and Series Editors Liz Foley and Sunshine Jackson.

Eden starts on Monday 18th July at 9pm on Channel 4.

 

About Eden

What were the contributors given at the start of the experiment

To start their Eden experience each contributor was consulted about the tools of their trade – what they would need to help the community start and thrive. As is clearly shown in the programme, these items, along with a kit of food and supplies, were placed in Eden ahead of the experiment for the contributors to find.

They were:

 

Livestock – goats, sheep, pigs and chickens

Equipment for fishing and hunting, including one shot gun owned by the gamekeeper and securely stored, and a rowing boat

Equipment for building including tarpaulins and the carpenter’s choice of saws

Equipment for cooking including the chef’s knives & utensils

Materials for food preserving and a starter kit of food (including the following; potatoes, onions and turnips, oil, nuts & seeds, oatmeal, flour, sugar, fruit, salt & pepper, vinegar)

Equipment for hygiene, ie component parts to allow them to build a composting toilet

Safety equipment (waterproofs, whistles, GPS and heart monitors)

Medical /veterinary equipment

Reference books on food preserving and growing vegetables

Gardening materials, seeds and animal feed

Filming equipment including individual go-pros

 

Each was also allowed to bring in personal items – carried or attached to one rucksack. The items they deemed essential to them included the following;

Photos and letters from home

Condoms

Alcohol and tobacco

Pens

Shower head

The Shepherdess also brought her sheep dog

 

Why give them supplies?

This is not a survival show, this is an experiment about what happens if you could start a community from scratch. We want the community to thrive and gave them materials to help them on their way. If you were launching the Mayflower to a brave new world you would take what you thought would be useful to you for a new society. We consulted with the individuals before they began the experiment and provided certain things that they felt would help them build a new life.

 

How many cameras are there?

The rig is comprised of 45 cameras that can be moved should the contributors move their living quarters. There are also four trained camera people who are living alongside the community for the year and will appear on camera. In addition each of the contributors is able to film and all have go-pro cameras which capture much of the footage used in the show.

 

How do you know what will happen?

We don’t. The premise of the programme is that we are observing a group of people building a community from scratch to see how they chose to live over the year. The embedded crew do not receive any direction from production on what to film and there are no tasks, eliminations, winners or losers. How the group fare is up to them.

 

How did you select the contributors?

There was an open casting process so anyone over 18 could apply. Alongside this, production undertook targeted casting in order to find people with key skills such as cameramen and women and people with veterinary, medical expertise and a chef.

 

Where is it filmed?

The contributors are living in a remote area which is a westerly peninsular in Scotland.

 

Why did you pick this location?

The location was selected as it was remote and provides the natural resources needed for a group of people to be able to thrive and build a new community (access to the sea, fresh water, hunting, trees for building shelter etc).

 

What permissions were needed for filming?

Eden has been carefully planned in full consultation with key organisations including The Highland Council, The RSPB, Creative Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, the AOC Archaeology Group, the Estate owners and always with the local environment in mind.

 

Are the contributors able to leave if they want to?

Yes, the contributors are free to leave whenever they wish.