So it’s back, and with a new family to gawk it, it all got off to a rather impressive start. I’m unashamedly a fan of fly-on-the-wall; I can’t help myself, though oddly, I do no curtain twitching in my own home. I don’t even know what most of my near neighbours are called, but show me a house full of people I don’t even know being filmed, and I’m there.

This time around, the family we’re spying on are the Grewals, who, judging by first impressions are analogous to the Garnetts in Til Death Us Do Part. There was stubbornness, curmudgeonliness and obstreperous moaning, and that was just from mum and dad Sarbjit and Arvinder. And like Alf and Elsie Garnett, their apparent animosity towards each other belies a deep affection that you might have to dig deep to see, but know is there.

And like Alf Garnett’s daughter Rita, the Grewals are not strangers to having parents disapprove of a choice of partner. For Rita, Alf’s daughter, it was “that lazy scouse git” her dad objected to, but for women in the Grewal family, their marrying a man from a Sikh caste who’s considered “below” them has caused seemingly irrevocable and very sad family divides. Read more & comment »

Oh happy day! Channel 4’s hugely successful documentary series, The Family, returns this Christmas for a one-off special, ‘The Family at Christmas’.

The whole family comes together to celebrate the festive season but of course, peace to all men doesn’t necessarily extend to everyone in the Hughes household!

You can see clips from it here.

In another special edition, The Secret Millionaire Changed My Life updates the stories of some of this year’s millionaires and the people that they’ve helped. We’ll catch up with how the money the millionaires donated was used and hear from the millionaires how much their experiences have changed them.

Britain’s most cherished social institution, the family, is the subject of fresh scrutiny ahead of a major new Channel 4 documentary series. The new research reveals that while half of families admit to arguing every day, 98% of teenagers say they love their parents. The poll results also show that over a third (35%) of mums and dads spend at least an hour a day shouting and one in five parents (19%) confess to loving the family pet as much as their own children.

Ahead of the launch of a major new observational documentary series, The Family, Channel 4 commissioned a poll which questioned 1000 parents with children under 18 living at home and 500 teenagers. The findings will form the basis of the marketing campaign for the series. Read more & comment »