This will make for an interesting watch.
Do you remember the reality TV show Eden?
Chances are you, the average television viewer, will only have a vague recollection of Eden, which was pitched as a Survivor-style social experiment in which the contestants were required to build a self-sufficient community for themselves based on the foundation of the most basic food and living materials.
The concept was that 23 people would be left stranded in the Scottish Highlands with four crew members and cameras would document how people would survive if they had to start all over again without modern technology.
What would happen if we could start society over again? And do it here? Welcome to Eden. pic.twitter.com/6Gq8dKz6NA
— Eden (@Eden_C4) June 22, 2016
The contestants were told that that they would be away from civilised society for a year – from March 2016 to March 2017.
March 2017 arrived and as the contestants left the site, they discovered that only four episodes of the show had actually made it to air.
Four hour-long episodes were broadcast on Channel 4 between July and August of last year but not a peep had been heard since.
Several cast members left the show in that time but nobody really knew why new episodes were not broadcast after August 2016.
Happy Friday! Here's a cute animal pic. You're welcome. #Eden pic.twitter.com/zo3Zbgyulj
— Eden (@Eden_C4) October 7, 2016
Now we’re about to find out exactly what went down in that period as Channel 4 is set to air a special five-part series this month which will make everything clear.
Eden: Paradise Lost will be shown throughout next week, starting on August 7 and will enlighten viewers about what went wrong in the Highlands.
It’s understood that the show essentially descended into a Lord of the Flies-style dynamic and that the dark nature of what went on forced it off the air.
“The participants went in with a rose-tinted view of how society would evolve when you started from scratch, but things went in a different direction. People reverted to their base instincts,” Channel 4 commissioning editor Ian Dunkley told Radio Times magazine.
Another glorious day in #Eden! 👌 pic.twitter.com/XAzKDDpogn
— Eden (@Eden_C4) September 17, 2016
Bullying, depression and contempt arising from competition for resources are just some elements of what can be expected in the new series.
“The decision of one of the group and its aftermath causes widespread fury and rebellion and threatens to bring the entire Eden experience to a premature end,” Channel 4 teased.
Eden: Paradise Lost will air in five parts over five consecutive nights on Channel 4, starting on Monday at 10pm.
“It does get quite dark,” series producer Liz Foley said. “But it’s what happened and it’s interesting – we didn’t manipulate the story, we just filmed events as they unfolded.”
