Children's reality show attacked as 'voyeuristic'

A Channel 4 programme in which children live alone to discover how they cope without their parents has been criticised as "voyeuristic and low-grade entertainment".

The broadcaster asked 10 boys and 10 girls to spend two weeks in separate cottages in Cornwall. The children were told to cook for themselves, make their own sleeping arrangements, clean their cottages and decide how to spend their money. Channel 4 denied the show would be a mini-Big Brother.

Following the screening of clips at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, the former shadow home secretary David Davis said the show was "appalling", adding: "Given how hard adults find it to cope with a series like Big Brother, to put children in that environment is asking for trouble."

Andrew Hibberd, director of pressure group, The Parent Organisation, said: "The programme will serve no useful purpose and will simply be voyeuristic and low-grade entertainment."