Channel 4 has commissioned Handcuffed from 72 Films, a Fremantle Company – a new 6 x 60 series which will takes eight pairs of strangers with completely opposed opinions, beliefs, lifestyles, and bad habits, on a road trip around the UK with a bizarre twist – they’ll be handcuffed together 24/7.
The couples will be handcuffed together as they navigate eating, dressing, sleeping and travelling the length and breadth of the nation just inches apart. Shackled around the clock, the pairs will undertake their road trip in the hope they find common ground along the way.
The pair that lasts longest chained together will be in the running for a £100,000 jackpot – but if it proves too much and they demand to be unchained, their shot at the jackpot is gone. Drawn from across the UK, the couples will represent the wide range of views and opinions found in modern Britain.
Will the chance to win a huge cash prize drive them to stay together whatever, or will their massive differences lead them to quit?
This experiment will be overseen by Jonathan Ross, who’ll pair up the couples and guide them on their path to reconciliation. The show marks the host’s return to Channel 4, having started his career presenting The Last Resort there in 1987.
Ross said: “I believe this experiment will go a small way to healing a fractured Britain; after all, to know is to love. I’m rooting for our couples to go the distance and not let our differences overpower us.”
Tim Hancock, commissioning editor, added: “Funny, intense, and featuring a cast reflecting a truly diverse range of British characters, this is the kind of social experiment you’d only see on Channel 4. The series aims capture modern Britain by examining its divisions and hopefully helping mend some of them too.”
David Glover, executive producer, said: “The show is designed to both to be funny and to have a surprising amount of heart. The winners will have to be able to put their differences aside and get along.”
72 Films was also behind Netflix’s documentary about prolific sexual abuser Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story.and the BBC’s Nothumbria Police doc Our Cops in the North.
