UNITED KINGDOM: Couples have sex in a box in front of a live audience in controversial new TV show

Record ID: 335425

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: Couples have sex in a box in front of a live audience in controversial new TV show
  • Date: 5th October 2013
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (OCTOBER 2, 2013) (REUTERS) CHANNEL 4 HEADQUARTERS BUILDING COMMISSIONING EDITOR FOR FACTUAL PROGRAMMING AT CHANNEL 4, DAVID GLOVER, WALKING OUT OF BUILDING CHANNEL 4 SIGN ON BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (English) COMMISSIONING EDITOR FOR FACTUAL PROGRAMMING AT CHANNEL 4, DAVID GLOVER, SAYING: "We realise that it might be a controversial sounding idea, but
  • Embargoed: 20th October 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Communications,Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA77YRLHY5R1H0HTHUSRU5Y07RA
  • Story Text: A British television show which sends couples into a box to have sex in front of a live television audience in the middle of the studio has sparked fierce debate over whether it is a serious attempt to discuss issues surrounding sex or whether it is just cheap titillation to chase ratings.
    Channel 4's "Sex Box" programme will see the couples interviewed on stage by a panel of sex experts as soon as they emerge from the box.
    "We realise that it might be a controversial sounding idea, but when you actually watch the programme it is incredibly chaste, you don't see anyone having sex, you don't hear anyone having sex, it is a very private space," said Channel 4's Commissioning Editor for Factual Programmes, David Glover.
    The soundproofed box, which looks a little like a modern Scandinavian sauna hut, is totally private and kitted out like a hotel room inside. The couples have 35 minutes to use the space and then rather bashfully emerge to discuss their experiences with the panel of three experts and host Mariella Frostrup.
    Channel 4 has a history of controversial shows and programme names, such as Drugs Live, The Joy of Teen Sex and My Daughter's A Teenage Nudist.
    Mediawatch-UK, which campaigns for family values, accuses Sex Box of being just another titillating-titled gimmick programme.
    "You are not seeing anything untoward at all so why have it there at all?" said Vivienne Pattison, Director of Mediawatch-UK.
    "I think it is just a conceit to do with the title and the problem is the format can run away with actually the purpose of the programme. I think it is quite a legitimate thing to discuss sex but I don't think it is the best or the most appropriate way to do it. If you call a programme Sex Box, and Channel 4 have form with titillating titles with previous shows, I think you are saying something very specific and people who are likely to tune into that may not be looking for the educational aspects of the programme so much as a bit of titillation," she said.
    Channel 4 argues that Sex Box is a serious show which is part of the Campaign For Real Sex season, designed to be an antidote to pornography.
    "It does have a serious purpose, but it is also deliberately provocative," said Glover.
    He is amazed at how much controversy the show has already caused, before it has even aired.
    "We realised when we commissioned it that it would cause quite a lot of conversation and debate, we didn't realise it would be quite this controversial, with people all over the world phoning up. What is amazing is that it is only about sex. We do programmes about all sorts of other controversial issues from religion to drug-taking and other things, certainly in Britain and it seems around the world doing a programme where people have sex in private causes more of a storm than anything we have done before," he said.
    The show doesn't air until Monday night (October 7) but critics are already condemning it in newspaper letters pages and on Twitter. "There is no need for it. It looks awkward and disgusting" one post reads. Another post asks "What the hell has TV come to?"
    But one of the show's sex experts, author Tracey Cox, said there is a legitimate reason why they wanted the couples to have sex immediately before being questioned by the panel.
    "We tend to re-write things in our heads, so if you talk to somebody immediately after they have done it, you are liable to get a much more raw honest response," she said.
    She said she hoped the show will prompt British people to talk openly about sex and lose their juvenile "nudge-nudge, wink-wink" attitude.
    "I thought that would be something that hasn't been done before and would be great. It could introduce a really, sort of, grown-up discussion about sex, which we are sorely lacking in this country," Cox said.
    Mediawatch-UK and critics on Twitter question how real sex in a box in a television studio can be.
    "I would have thought that is possibly as unreal as you can get and I doubt that they are going to get actually a fair and representative discussion about sexual relationships in such an artificial environment," said Pattison.
    Sex Box illicited a mix of sniggers, shrieks of delight or disapproving looks on the streets of London.
    "Errr....shocking," laughed one embarrassed looking man.
    "No, I don't think I'd watch that. No," he added.
    "I do believe that it is a bit too much, but I will probably actually tune in and watch the first episode," said his friend.
    A middle-aged man, of Italian descent, said he thought sex was not discussed enough in Britain and embraced the idea of Sex Box.
    "It is not open to conversation enough. If you share it with your kids early enough you'd be able to not have that problem," he said.
    Sex Box caused two older women them to laugh out loud.
    "What time is it on and when do you need me?" Joked one. But her friend thought the concept takes things a bit too far.
    "I think it is like somebody going to toilet and then coming out and telling you about it. I just think it is all a bit too personal," she said.
    There are three couples taking part in the first show airing next week. A couple in their early 40's who were childhood sweethearts, a young couple in their 20's and a gay couple in their 30's.
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