C4 Commissions 'Secret Life Of Four Year Olds'

Channel 4 has ordered a new documentary from RDF Television that follows 10 four-year-olds to examine their cognitive and social development.

The one-off film has been commissioned by Sara Ramsden for Channel 4 and will air in early 2015.

"The Secret Life of Four-Year-Olds (w/t) captures every exchange and all the raw emotion when a group of four-year-olds meet for the very first time in a specially equipped nursery, observed by their parents, and under the watchful eye of two highly trained Early Years teachers," a statement said.

Throughout filming the children will be observed by Dr Paul Howard-Jones (Educational Neuroscientist, Bristol University) and Dr Sam Wass (Developmental Psychologist, MCR Cognition & Brain Unit, Cambridge).

Sara Ramsden, Commissioning Editor, Channel 4, said: "This is a film that works at several levels; there is great drama in the ups and downs of the children as they fall in and out of friendships and vie for supremacy in the nursery pecking order. But there is also great insight as we realise the significance of these first forays into the social world. This is the age that we first lay down memories that can last until adulthood. These are some of the most important months in any human's life."

Teresa Watkins, Executive Producer, RDF Television, said: "Four-year-olds are fascinating – smart, imaginative, unfettered, unpredictable, funny. It wasn't until we starting looking at the science of four year olds that we realised they're also blueprints for their future selves. This makes the film really interesting for people of all ages – you can't help identifying with the four-year-old you might have been."

The Secret Life of Four-Year-Olds (w/t) is produced by RDF Television, a Zodiak Media Company, in conjunction with Wellcome Trust, and is Executive Produced by Teresa Watkins. The Series Producer for RDF TV is Nicola Brown. Sara Ramsden is the Commissioning Editor for Channel 4.

www.channel4.com

(IT/JP)