Couples are to have sex in front of a studio audience for the first time in a new Channel 4 programme called Sex Box.

The couples will be shielded from view in an opaque, sound-proof room attached to a studio, and will emerge to discuss their experiences immediately afterwards with a panel of sex experts

The aim of the show is to promote honest and open discussion around "real sex" in light of the explosion of online porn.

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The volunteers include a gay couple in their 30s who hope to shatter myths about gay sex, and a heterosexual couple in their early 20s who think people do not talk openly enough about sex.

After their time in the sex box, the couples will talk to agony aunt Mariella Frostrup, psychotherapist Phillip Hodson, sex and relationship expert Tracey Cox and US sex columnist Dan Savage.

The programme will form part of Channel 4’s Campaign for Real Sex Season.

Ralph Lee, the broadcaster's head of factual, said: "The explosion of online pornography is one of the stories of our time and the Campaign for Real Sex season is our response to it.

"Sex Box absolutely intends to be an open and adult conversation about sex, something we feel is currently being overlooked by mainstream programming.”

David Glover, senior factual commissioning editor, said he hopes the show will open up honest discussions about sex and the role it plays in loving relationships.

He said: "It is a rather mischievous, fun idea that actually allows sex to be completely private but the conversation to be truthful and immediate."

The Campaign for Real Sex Season starts on 30 September at 10pm with 'Porn on the Teenage Brain'.