A press release released yesterday on Channel 5's corporate page:
10,000 BC
10-Sep-2014
New entertainment show coming soon to Channel 5 and MTV UK
Coming soon to Channel 5 and MTV UK, 10,000 BC, produced by The Garden and GroupM Entertainment â the first co-commission between the two broadcasters following closure of Viacomâs deal to buy Channel 5.
How have we changed as humans since our ancestors first settled in these islands? What, if anything, is REALLY different about how we eat, live, and play? About how we think, feel and get on with each other? What would happen if you took modern humans out of the 21st century and transported them back to the Stone AgeâĶ?
Twenty men and women from every conceivable walk of life in modern Britain, are about to find out â the hard way. They have agreed to give up everything - possessions, technology, their home, creature comforts, ready meals, water on tap and their privacy â all to live in the wilderness as a Stone Age community.
Many people fantasise about living in a simpler age, but have no real sense of what it would be like â or how they'd cope. Using the lens of the Stone Age to strip away the trappings of contemporary life, this series will give viewers the chance to see what happens when modern people are laid bare. With their true selves revealed, beneath millennia of civilisation, it will be impossible to look away.
This programme is about exchanging modern life for a prehistoric one and to take stock of how our lives have changed. Has it all been for the better? Either way, itâll be a highly emotionally charged roller coaster rideâĶ.tears, tantrums, laughter and joy, every day, 24/7.
These men and women will be going back to basics â big time. Theyâll be hunting animals, foraging for food, subsisting on whatever they can scour from their environment. Theyâll be cold, hungry, scared and pushed to the limits of endurance. Theyâll have no one but themselves and each other to help get them through. How will they fare? What will this demanding, exhilarating experience make them (and the audience at home) realise about 21st century life?
Simon Raikes, Commissioning Editor: Factual added: âThis is a remarkable fusion of social experiment and living history, it brings to Channel 5 the best of both worlds in one unmissable series that finally makes history fun and gives entertainment a purpose.â
Steve Regan, MTV UKâs VP, Commissioning and Production, added: âOur viewers love watching people from their age group coping with extreme circumstancesâĶ and you canât get more extreme than stripping away all of lifeâs mod cons. Weâre looking forward to working with the producers and the team at Channel 5 to produce a highly entertaining spin-off show focusing on the characters most relevant to MTV and all the emotions and tensions involved.â
Nick Curwin, Chief Executive of The Garden, said: "This social experiment is an exciting departure for us and we're going to produce one that will knock the audience's socks off. It's going to be ballsy, fascinating and entertaining and we're delighted to be doing it with GME for Channel 5 and MTV."
Richard Foster, MD GME UK said: âAs the recent M&A activity in the marketplace continues to take hold there are going to be numerous opportunities for new partnerships and collaborations. We are delighted to be supporting the first commission across MTV and Channel 5 under the new Viacom ownership.â
10 x 60 minute episodes for Channel 5, 5 x 60 minute episodes for MTV UK