Bonds to bridge age gap
CHANNEL 4, you might say, is the home of the social experiment. From Big Brother, the UK version of which started out there in 2000, right up to today’s offerings, such as social media nonsense The Circle, it’s given us countless examples of such programme-making, essentially the let’s-put-thesetypes-of-people-with-those-typesof-people-and-see-what-happens style of television.
Mostly what happens, of course, is shouting. TV bosses are big fans of shouting. At some top-level conference or other, now lost in the mists of time, it was agreed that shouting made “good TV” and this has pretty much been the mantra ever since.
However every so often comes a social experiment that genuinely lifts the spirits, oozes positivity and offers hope.
One such programme returns tonight. OLD PEOPLE’S HOME FOR 4 YEAR OLDS (C4, 9pm) even has the good grace to remember what hyphens are for, which is more than could be said for Bake Off.
The idea is a simple one. At a residential retirement village (this time it’s one near Nottingham), a children’s nursery is temporarily set up on site, enabling the residents and these youngsters to enjoy a range of activities together.
Over several weeks, experts monitor the impact this is having on the residents (the oldest here is 102), in terms of mood, memory, mobility and such like.
Does this interaction put a new spring in their step, lift depression etc? Evidence from elsewhere (particularly the United States, where this type of thing has been happening for some while) suggests it does and in some cases to a remarkable degree.
Series one of this Channel 4 programme came to much the same conclusion. Series two will also monitor the impact on the youngsters’ development. Bits of it, inevitably, bring to mind somewhat simpler shows such as Kids Say The Funniest Things.
When asked, for example, what she thinks being older is like, four-year-old Scarlett replies: “Wibbly-wobbly on your knees when you bend down.”
To the same question, her classmate Sajaan’s response is: “Their legs can’t work properly.”
Yet it’s when the kids and residents mix we witness the most uplifting moments.
A smart but shy child called Phoenix begins to strike up a lovely rapport with 81-year-old Lavinia and if the experiment ultimately puts a smile back on the face of Dunkirk veteran Victor, 97, who’s currently feeling low, this alone will have made it worthwhile. Earlier, in the new daytime series ARMCHAIR BRITAIN (BBC1, 11.45am), Miriam Margolyes (below) reflects on our past by trawling through the TV archives. In episode one, focusing on Cornwall, she digs out a clip from 1985, in which legendary TV cook Keith Floyd visits Padstow, cooking sea bass with a little known chef... Rick Stein. “This is Nick’s own very special recipe,” Keith tells us. “Rick, dear boy, Rick,” his host corrects him. “Rick?” replies the presenter. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry. Well, once you’ve seen one cook you’ve seen them all…”