Home remedies to be put to the test in new Channel 4 series

6 August 2013

Channel 4 today announced the commission of a new 6x30’ series Health Freaks (w/t) from Outline Productions.  The format will see a broad range of popular home remedies put to the test to see if they have any medicinal value.

Each week a series of DIY remedy pitchers who swear by a particular treatment or “cure” will present their favoured remedy to a panel of three GPs - Dr Pixie McKenna, Dr Ayan Panja and Dr Ellie Cannon.

The panel will then debate each pitch   – is the proposed “cure” just an old wives tale? Is it essentially harmless or could it be potentially dangerous?  Or might there be reason to believe it might actually work?

If the GPs panel decides that the treatment deserves further investigation they will send it for a trial or lab test, designed by the show’s scientists, to further examine the remedy’s efficacy and reveal whether it might have any medicinal value.  Will our DIY remedy pitchers be proved right, or will their ideas be struck off the treatment list?

From breast milk curing infections and an oat bath that tackles psoriasis to the old building site favourite – WD40 to “cure” achy joints, Health Freaks will investigate the efficacy of some of the country’s oddest and most widely known home remedies – which, if any, will pass the GPs tests?

Health Freaks was commissioned for Channel 4 by Nick Hornby, Commissioning Editor for Features. The series will be series edited by Chris Walley and executive produced by Helen Veale and Ross McCarthy at Outline Productions.

The multiplatform dimension of Health Freaks will enable viewers to contribute by indicating whether they have had first-hand experience of the remedy in question. A live insert into the otherwise pre-recorded programme will feed the results of viewers’ engagement during the show back into the programme, just before the test or trial outcome is finally revealed.

Of the commission, Nick Hornby said: “GPs are frequently faced with self-medicating patients but rarely have the chance to examine the hand-me-down remedies that these patients swear by.  The series will offer our DIY remedy pitchers and the GPs the chance to subject them to further investigation to help establish the facts both for the DIY remedy pitchers themselves and for the wider audience.”

Helen Veale from Outline Productions added: “This show is a way of allowing ordinary people who feel passionate about what has worked for them to share their ideas with a wider audience and have their remedies scientifically analysed – something they may have been unable to do previously due to the time and cost constraints involved.  We’ve already had some really interesting results and we think when the programme airs, viewers will be fascinated by what they see.”

Regarding the multiplatform aspect of the show, Adam Gee, Channel 4 Multiplatform Commissioning Editor, said: “The interactivity of Health Freaks is effectively transforming a pre-recorded show into a live television event. This gives viewers more of a stake in the outcome, whilst encouraging them to watch the broadcast rather than time-shifting. So it’s an early experiment in a largely unexplored area which benefits viewers, advertisers and the broadcaster alike.”  

Health Freaks will air on Channel 4 in autumn 2013.

ENDS.