A House In History

A House In History is a brilliant new reality TV show which is nothing like Big Brother, actually - we follow one family, the Colchesters, as they live in a 1940s house with the clothes, amenities, food and restrictions that would have been in place.

This sitcom cuts between a parody of a 'living history' programme, in which a family is sent back in time to live in authentic 1940s conditions, and the office of the production company making the living history programme.

The Colchesters are the family chosen to live in the house, made up of patriarch Phil, his wife Carol and their daughter Clementine.

It soon becomes clear that this is more than a gameshow to Phil. He is the sort of person who regurgitates Daily Mail articles about how Britain is 'going to the dogs'. And now, thanks to A House In History, he has a chance to return to a better time, a better England. He can live alongside Churchill, help win the war for his country, make Britain 'Great'. He has dragged the rest of the Colchesters along with him on his personal crusade. The £100,000 cash prize on offer if the family can survive the six weeks in the house is just a bonus: he's there to win a war, to prove he could cut it back in a time when 'men were men'.

Meanwhile, Wingate Productions, who are producing the show, realise that they cannot afford to pay out the cash prize. And so Alex and Kelly ratchet up the pressure on the Colchesters in a bid to drive them out, making the living conditions and rationing even more unbearable to save themselves the bankrupting pay-out. They also race to get another show commissioned to cover their losses in case the worst happens and the Colchesters last the full six weeks.

Never before in the field of low-key reality television has so little meant so much to so many.

A House In History was co-written and co-directed by Will Farrell and Ben Rowse, who had previously collaborated on web series Petrichor.

In making A House In History, they used a similar production method to the one used making Petrichor (and the iTunes number 1 podcast Capital that Ben was involved in): they devised storylines, beats and jokes for each scene, then let the cast improvise around them, finding extra jokes en route to a naturalistic performance of the original beats.

Ben Rowse says: "History is written by the victor. But sadly Victor was busy so the BBC asked Will and I to write it instead."

Will Farrell comments: "Hopefully it's an extremely funny radio show about an extremely funny world war. It's the best thing I've made since my son."