The Family (2008 TV series)

The Family
Genre Reality Television
Directed by Jonathan Smith
Olly Lambert
Composer(s) Matthew Cracknell
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 3
No. of episodes 24 (list of episodes)
Production
Location(s) Canterbury, Kent (series 1)
West London (series 2)
Hackney, East London (series 3)
Broadcast
Original channel Channel 4
Original run 17 September 2008 – present
Chronology
Related shows The Family (1974)
The Family (2011)
External links
Website

The Family is a British fly-on-the-wall documentary series that began airing 17 September 2008 on Channel 4. Each season follows a chosen family, consisting of parents and their children. The project aim was to gain a picture of everyday family life in the United Kingdom, as film-maker and director Jonathan Smith attempted to "condense four months of ordinary family life into eight films".[1] The series is a revival of the original series of the same name that first aired in 1974.

The Families

Series 1: The Hughes

Series 1 followed the lives of the Hughes family consisting of parents Simon and Jane, and their four children - Jessica (22), Emily (19), Charlotte (17), and Tom (14) who live in Harbledown, Canterbury, Kent. They had more than 20 cameras placed in their semi-detached home, capturing their every move over a period of four months and were controlled from the house next door.[2][3] The Hughes family were not the original family planned to participate in the first series. They were brought in as reserves after the father of the intended family was found to be a steroid dealer and was consequently pulled from the programme.[4]

The Hughes also have a black cat called Ziggy, who is frequently seen in the series. During filming he went missing for a few days, but later returned safe and well.

Series 2: The Grewals

Series 2 followed the lives of the Grewals, a British Indian family consisting of parents Arvinderjeet and Sarbjit, and their three children - Mandeep (33), Gurdip (32), and Tejind (23) along with Mandeep and Gurdip's spouses - Gursharonjit (24) and Jitender (36), respectively, who live in west London. The format differed slightly from the first series in that micro-interviews with family members were interspersed periodically throughout the programme, commenting about the issue in the episode.

The Grewals also have two dogs named Rusty and Dusty.

Since the series aired, Sunny and Shay have gone on to present a radio show on BBC London 94.9.[5] and in 2011 began presenting the BBC Asian Network's Weekend Breakfast show.[6]

Series 3: The Adesinas

Series 3 followed the lives of the Adesinas, a Nigerian British family consisting of parents Sunday and Vicky, and their four British children - Ayo (27), Julie (25), Olu (23), and Ola (15) who live in Hackney, east London.

References

  1. Channel 4 "The Making Of The Family". 2008-09-28. Retrieved 2008-10-15.
  2. "Kent Online 'Kent family chosen for TV insight into domestic life' (28 August 2008)". Kent Online. 2008-11-11. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
  3. Kentish Gazette "TV documentary on warts and all family life". 2008-08-28. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
  4. "Mail Online 'Stars of The Family were brought in as reserves 'after father in original line-up was exposed as steroids dealer (28 September 2008)". Mail Online. 2008-09-28. Retrieved 2008-11-11.
  5. "BBC - BBC London 94.9 Programmes - Sunny and Shay". BBC. Retrieved 25 November 2011.
  6. "BBC - BBC Asian Breakfast Programmes - Weekend Breakfast". Retrieved 24 March 2012.

External links