Ads will highlight suspension of schedule from 7am to 7pm, backed by online campaign aimed at boosting the number of under-25s who take part in ballot

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Channel 4 will shut down E4 on the day of the general election, pulling the plug on a schedule including hit US comedies The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother, in a bid to encourage more young people to vote.



Viewers tuning in on 7 May will see “Darren”, the man responsible for keeping E4 on air, manning the control room in place of its regular programming.

The first time in the UK a channel has closed down to encourage people to vote, a pre-election marketing campaign will tell viewers: “How many times have you missed life-changing events because you wanted to watch your favourite show?

“May 7 is election day and Darren is going to turn E4 off so you might as well go and vote. You won’t forget will you Darren?”

E4 election day shutdown

E4’s regular schedule will be suspended from 7am, when the polls open, to 7pm, when the channel will return to normal with Hollyoaks and viewers who had not already voted (polling closes at 10pm) may find themselves stuck to the sofa once again.

Dan Brooke, Channel 4’s chief marketing and communications officer said: “Less than half of under-25s voted at the last election so we’ve engaged the most powerful weapon that we have at our disposal to try and boost that number – switching off their favourite TV channel for the day.”

E4 is the number one digital channel for 16- to 34-year-old viewers in the UK, attracting a 5.2% share of the young demographic to date this year – ahead of BBC2 and Channel 5.

The shutdown will be promoted across all four of Channel 4’s stable of channels, beginning on Wednesday.

It will be accompanied by an online campaign, channel4.com/x, aimed at boosting the number of under-25s who vote. Channel 4 will stream the first ever youth leaders’ debate next week.