BBC Three social experiment gives teens a taste of adult life

An ambitious social experiment will give teenage couples a chance to experience adult life in fast forward and discover what it's really like to be a parent.
In 'Teen Town', couples between the age of 16 and 19 will be thrown in at the deep end – given their own houses and real adult responsibilities, in their own specially created 'teen town'.
They will be set a series of tasks to perform to find out if they are really ready for the responsibility that adult life brings, including looking after children from a range of age groups, from babies to 14 year olds.
Julian Bellamy, Controller of BBC Three, said: "We're excited to have commissioned Teen Town and build on the channel's reputation for fresh and challenging factual entertainment."
Produced by Love Productions and to be broadcast on BBC Three early next year, Teen Town will be a social experiment designed to test the hypothesis that the most effective way for young people to truly understand what it's like to be a parent is to put them in charge of a child.
Ben Gale, BBC Executive Producer of Teen Town, said: "'We hope that living as a couple in real houses and in a real street and coping with all that looking after babies and children entails will give the teens a revealing glimpse of what family life is really like..."
The experiment will be conducted under the watchful eyes of professional nannies and the programme makers are working with registered charity Teens and Toddlers to ensure that the subject matter is handled with sensitivity.
Stacey Millichamp, Director of Teens and Toddlers, said: "Giving young people an intensive experience of being responsible for running their own lives, and that of their family, is the most potent intervention you can make in terms of impacting their attitudes, expectations and aspirations."
Liz Cleaver, Controller of BBC Learning and Interactive, added: "With teenage births in the UK the highest in Western Europe, Teen Town offers an opportunity to explore a serious social issue through an entertaining format."
(GB)