Channel 4 Commissions Eden

LONDON: Channel 4 has given the green light to the new reality series Eden (working title).

Starting next year, Eden, from KEO Films, will follow the experiences of more than 20 skilled Brits, including builders, engineers, fishermen, botanists and others, as they tackle a new life with the bare necessities required for survival. They must create their own shelter, society and rules. For one year, this community will live together, cut off from the rest of the world in an isolated part of the northern hemisphere. The show will be filmed from the inside by an embedded crew, personal cameras and a fixed rig. Eden will bring into question what humans want from their communities and what they actually need.

The series was commissioned for Channel 4 by Liam Humphreys, head of factual entertainment, and Ian Dunkley, factual entertainment commissioning editor. Colleen Flynn, the creative director at KEO Films, serves as executive producer.

Humphreys said: “Eden developed partly as a response to a growing malaise amongst the young with traditional political systems. It offers a simple insight, what would the world look like if we started again? It promises to be a bold idea, not least because of the scale of the concept but also because as program makers we have absolutely no idea what will happen.”

Flynn added: “Eden is a truly unique proposition, taking highly skilled people, giving them basic resources and seeing what they can create given time and opportunity away from the constraints of modern life. We can't wait to work with Liam and Channel 4 on this highly ambitious and game-changing series.”