Violence, bullying and tears: How on earth could 'respectable' parents let their children enter Channel 4's 'cruel' experiment?



Try to imagine ten boys and ten girls from differing backgrounds let loose to live in separate 'villages' and told they can live without rules for two weeks. A plot for a controversial new film, perhaps? Or a new play? No. These are real children, from real families, allowed by their largely middle-class parents to take part in what has been described as a televised Lord Of The Flies for 2009.

The youngsters - aged between eight and 11 - were left to decide everything and do everything for themselves. And, surprise, surprise, the results of the Big Brother-style show for children were nothing short of terrifying.

Predictably, the producers of Boys And Girls Alone, which began on Channel 4 last night, are billing the four-part series as a fascinating TV experiment, which shows the differences between girls and boys when left to their own devices.

Violence: In the boys' camp, it was not long before blows were being exchanged

But children's campaigners have accused programme makers of acting irresponsibly and exploiting children in their ever-growing quest for high ratings. And it has to be said the show makes for uncomfortable viewing.

Within two days, some of the children were sobbing inconsolably. Meanwhile, their parents watched on CCTV as their children exercised their newfound freedom, intervening only when events spiralled out of control.

In the boys' house, it was not long before innocent horseplay turned to violence, with blows being exchanged. In one scene, not to be aired, one boy even points a dinner knife at the other.

The girls, meanwhile, fared little better. They split off into factions, with some of the older girls bullying the younger ones. One girl is filmed sobbing: 'We got away from our parents to have fun, but it's not fun. It's a nightmare.'

The series proved both agonising and revelatory for the parents who, having allowed their children to be placed in such a febrile atmosphere in the name of entertainment, watched from a distance as their children struggled with domestic tasks and dealt with the emotional fallout from relationships.

The producers say they were seeking to find out whether modern parents are producing a generation of mollycoddled 'cotton wool' children. But, while the format did indeed reveal intriguing differences between the sexes, questions remain about the long-term effects on the children involved.

The scene in the boys' village was part Just William, part Lord Of The Flies

As Camila Batmanghelidjh, of the charity Kids Company, says: 'Any situation that leaves a group of young people without the mediating presence of a responsible adult is cruel and abusive.'

Liz Carnell, of the charity Bullying UK, adds: 'This just sounds like Big Brother Junior. And considering the amount of bullying-related complaints we get about that show, it is certainly not an environment young people should be placed in.'

Liz Lammin, a 39-year-old housewife from Redruth in Cornwall, has some regrets about allowing her son Matthew, nine, to take part in the show.

She thought he would be the target of bullies because of his red hair and excess weight. Instead, her normally well-behaved little boy turned into a fractious, violent rebel, once allowed to live without rules.

She says: 'We went in on the third day and Matthew ran up to my husband, Neil, and hit him. Then he turned and twice hit me, which he's never done before. I couldn't believe how much he was swearing.

'When the girls moved into the boys' village near the end of the two weeks, emotions were at such fever pitch that he shouted at one of them: "If you don't f***ing leave me alone, you f***ing bitch, I'll beat the c**p out of you."

'This is the boy I was worried would be perceived as a country bumpkin. I've had to warn his grandparents ahead of the transmission because they will be shocked by his language.

Good intentions? Channel 4's commissioning editor said they wanted to create a village without adults where children could roam safely



'When Matthew came home to us he was a rude, arrogant monster. It took us a long time to get back the little boy we put in there. On the first night home, when we said it was bedtime, he said: "No. There are no rules here."

'He was frustrated and homesick. More than half the boys wanted to leave; one actually did. As I followed Matthew round, trying to console him, I had a cameraman in my face.

'I was faced with a dilemma. I knew if I pulled Matthew out early, he would be portrayed as a snivelling mummy's boy, so I let him stay in. But it turned him into a boy I hardly recognised.'

During filming, the children were placed in two enclosed 'villages' in Cornwall, one for boys and one for girls, with three houses each. The experiment ended with a 'prom' in which they all dressed up.

One of the boys sobs as he pleads to be taken home

The programme was devised by Dominique Walker, Channel 4's commissioning editor for factual entertainment. 'We wanted to create a village without adults where children could roam free in safety,' she says.

'The boys were more mollycoddled domestically, but although they fought more than the girls, they had more fun. The girls were more bitchy and their arguments lasted a lot longer. The girls didn't cry as much as the boys.'

After entering their village, the girls went to their store room, which contained a selection of food, picked out the ingredients for cakes and canapes and set to work baking. Later that evening, they served up a wholesome dinner.

Over in the boys' village, the scene was very different - part Just William, part Lord Of The Flies.

Experiment gone wrong: Many of the children struggled with basic domestic tasks and ended up eating sweets and fizzy drinks

Grabbing toys from the store cupboard, they chased each other with water guns. One boy fell in a duck pond and had to be fished out by another. Soon, they were all drenched and had to change their clothes, dumping the sodden ones on the floor.

Nine-year-old Sid, the son of a boxing champion from Essex, was hungry but couldn't work out how to plug the kettle in, so made a Pot Noodle using cold tap water.

The few boys who could cook heated up pizzas for themselves, but the rest turned to whatever needed the least preparation.

Mostly, they ate sweets and swigged fizzy drinks. High on sugar and E-numbers, they became fractious and rows and scuffles broke out.

Trained chaperones were forced to intervene to break up fights.

The girls go on a shopping spree during their two weeks of freedom

So what of the parents who allowed their children to take part in such an 'experiment?' Far from being vulnerable or irresponsible, most were middle-class professionals, like Alison Wardropper, a consultant in genitourinary medicine at the University Hospital of North Durham, and her GP husband Fraser, who allowed their son William to take part.

It was William who first heard about the film. 'We were anxious about the whole thing, as we've never been involved in television,' says Alison. 'He wanted to do it as it was a once-in-a-lifetime experiment, but it was the after-effects that concerned us most.'

The parents sat in a building nearby the villages to watch events unfold. Each had headphones linked to a microphone worn by their child. There were also mikes in the rooms.

Cameras filmed the children and captured the boys' swift descent into violence

Alison says: 'The most difficult thing for me to watch was when William was wandering around on his own. I could see that he was playing Dr Who in his own mind. I felt uncomfortable listening to everything he said. I felt I was invading his privacy. It was also hard being powerless to do anything.'

By day three, the children were finding that living without rules wasn't such fun and many of the boys were crying and missing their parents.

To avert an emotional meltdown, the parents were encouraged to go in. The mothers cleared up the mess in the boys' village while the fathers played with the children. At that point, Sid's parents gave in to his demands to leave.

Alison, who has a daughter, Grace, 12, was surprised to see how much William struggled with simple chores.

'The girls who took part were a lot more domesticated and orderly. The boys were like ten separate people living together, but if they had a fight they'd get over it quickly. The girls gathered into groups and were unpleasant in a more targeted way.

'At home, William could make toast and tea and heat up soup, but in the house he struggled to open a tin of beans. Another time, he grated cheese over still-frozen chips. What it taught me is that we do too much for our children domestically.'

Meanwhile, there was tension between the girls' mothers.

Debbie Beaumont, a 42-year-old sales co-ordinator for an insurance broker, refuses to have a word said against her daughter Charley, 12.

'She's a leader, but that can come across as bullying. At home, I've often found her defiant. She and another girl were the ringleaders in ostracising the youngest girl, Maddie, who had just turned eight.

'Maddie had daubed pink hearts on the walls, and Charley thought it was babyish. There was a slight altercation between me and Maddie's mum. I told her that I have two older children, and once her daughter is a bit older she will see that this is nothing to worry about.

Soon, even the girl's are abusing their newfound freedom

'I didn't think Charley was doing anything malicious. Some of the girls, including Charley, trampled over the other girls' beds, but they didn't destroy their property.

'It wasn't nice to watch, but what do you expect when they've been given no structure and aren't even eating the right food? The girls spent a lot of time bitching. I don't act like that - I work in an office and I never talk about other women in a negative way.

'My daughters come home from their all-girls' secondary school with hair-raising tales. It upsets me. I think it's partly TV shows they watch like Hollyoaks, where there's constant rowing, and partly the speed of modern communications. They're always chatting to friends on MSN Messenger on the internet, or texting their friends.'

Maddie's mum Simone MacLaine-Freeman, a 35-year-old arts development officer from Sileby, near Loughborough, Leicestershire, admits to having qualms about allowing her daughter to participate.

'My fear was that it was going to be like Big Brother and was going to be invasive. Although I didn't feel they were setting the children up for a nasty fall, there was one incident with Charley which was horrific. I felt she was passively bullying Maddie, asking the other children if they liked Maddie or not. She was trying to sow the seeds of doubt about my daughter.

12-year-old Charley has been accused of bullying during the show

'It was hard to watch, but I let it go for a day or two. Then I told one of the crew members that something must be done. They suggested that I get together with Charley's mother. It was difficult as Charley's mother implied that I was being over-protective.

'The producer finally stepped in and asked a chaperone to speak to Charley, so it finally came to an end.'

Adrian Pusey, a 47-year-old sales rep from Mountsorrel, Leicestershire, also admits to some regrets about allowing his son, Jason, ten, to take part.

'Perhaps I'm being naive, but I would expect any reputable programme maker to have the children's welfare at heart. I thought there would be defined limits beyond which they would not be able to go.

'But some of the things which went on were horrendous. It was deeply upsetting to see Jason in tears because other children had run riot. They kept spraying him with water and he got very upset. Jason actually showed great maturity and not all children would have dealt with the complete chaos so well.'

Adrian's wife Andrea, a complementary therapist, adds: 'When the girls and boys joined up together towards the end of the fortnight, I got to see them for the first time. One of the girls threw a pizza at my son Jason. And at the disco, one of the girls was doing a pole dance. I thought: "You know what you're doing". It was a shock. I was amazed at how bitchy they were.'

Consent: Most of the parents were far from vulnerable or irresponsible. Most were middle class professionals

Despite the relative sophistication of the girls, it was also clear that, emotionally, they were very much still children - which again challenges the wisdom of exposing them to a level of scrutiny which most adults would find hard to bear.

In one scene, Charley broke down and confessed a secret about her parents, who separated three years ago. She revealed that she had known her mother had had an affair and had felt guilty that her father, then still living with the family, didn't know.

At that point, Debbie went in to the village to comfort Charley and explained that her father had, in fact, known about the situation. 'It was difficult watching her get so upset over the split,' says Debbie with some understatement.

So what did the behaviour of the children reveal to trained eyes? The most startling finding was how much more aggressive the girls were than the boys, says clinical psychologist Dr David Schaich, who monitored the children's welfare throughout filming.

'Recent research has indicated that girls follow rules and maintain standards. That didn't materialise here. The boys got into rough and tumble fights, then they'd cry for their mums.

'The girls hardly cried at all and were extremely verbally aggressive and clique-ish in how they treated each other. I was sad to see how concerned girls of this age were about their looks and body image. You could see the beginnings of possible eating disorders.'

For 12-year-old Charley, the thrill of 'being on TV' was replaced by a heady dose of reality. 'I thought I'd like it without adults, but I was surprised to find it was really hard,' she says.

'My mum and I have grown closer now, and I help her at home when she asks me. I really appreciate my mum and dad now. I didn't realise how much you need your parents.'

Last night, a Channel 4 spokesman defended the show, saying: 'The children were monitored at all times and were never in any danger. It has a number of uplifting moments. It aims to show whether we are bringing up a generation of cotton-wool kids.

'It is a bit Lord Of The Flies, but there is no murdering.' Just flying fists, tears and lashings of cruelty.