Secret Life of 4 and 5 Year Olds is back for a sibling summer special

The brand new 8 x 60 series will launch with a two part location special, The Secret Life of Brothers and Sisters (w/t), featuring some of our best loved children from the last series. But this time they are coming with their siblings, some of whom are as young as two or three, the youngest children filmed to date.  And together, they are going on a camping holiday.

This will be followed by a further 6 episodes featuring a brand new cast of four and five year olds from up and down the country. These films will be shot across the summer holidays, offering an intimate look into all the friendships, battles and tussles that unfold when ten young children meet each other for the very first time on a summer play scheme.

The series, which began life as the highest rating single doc for Channel 4 in 2015, was quickly renewed for a 7x60 run that captured the nation with its extraordinary insight into all the riveting drama of life in the playroom, in The Secret Life of 4, 5 and 6 Year Olds. The series went on to win a Broadcast Award for Best Popular Factual Programme.

Returning once again for the new series will be leading scientists, Dr Paul Howard-Jones (Educational Neuroscientist, Bristol University) and Dr Sam Wass (Developmental Psychologist, MCR Cognition & Brain Unit, Cambridge) and Dr Elizabeth Kilbey (Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Oxleas NHS Trust) 

Teresa Watkins is the Executive Producer for RDF Television. Denise Seneviratne is the Series Editor for The Secret Life of Brothers and Sisters. Jackie Waldock is the Series Producer/Director for The Secret Life of 4 and 5 Year Olds. Zodiak Rights own worldwide rights to the format and the finished programmes.

Sara Ramsden, Commissioning Editor, Channel 4 said: "To see all the highs and lows of sibling relations played out amongst the magical scenery of the outdoors will be a treat. It will be a revelation to unpick the psychology underlying why siblings can be the best of friends and the worst of enemies."  

Teresa Watkins, Executive Producer, RDF Television said:  You don't choose your brothers and sisters.  But the relationship you have with them is likely to be the longest of your entire life and it's one that will definitely impact on your adult life.  It's a great opportunity to use The Secret Life formula to explore this most seminal of relationships.