Council calls for child reality show axe

Childcare specialists have called for TV show Boys And Girls Alone to be axed amid claims that it is "emotionally abusing" participants.

The Channel 4 reality programme features children left to their own devices in cottages in Cornwall so that they can experience life without their parents for a fortnight. Two episodes of the show have already been aired and there are two remaining.

Cornwall County Council has written to Channel 4 and watchdog Ofcom calling for the second two episodes to be axed, reports the BBC.

Ruby Parry, Cornwall County Council's assistant director for social care and family services, said in a letter to Channel 4 that the programme experiments with the "emotional and psychological welfare of children" and "raised serious safeguarding issues".

She added that some of the children were distressed in the first episode, which she termed as "abusive".

Andrew Mackenzie, Channel 4's head of factual entertainment, said that the children's welfare was the "first priority when filming", adding that all programmes were made in consultation with the relevant Ofcom guidelines.