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) |
Release | |
Original network | Channel 4 |
Picture format | 16:9 1080i |
Audio format | Stereo |
Original release | 17 September 2008 | – 22 December 2010
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 and ended on 22 December 2010 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". The series is a revival of the original series of the same name that first aired in 1974.
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. 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.
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 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. and in 2011 began presenting the BBC Asian Network's Weekend Breakfast show.
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.