Hidden Lives

The illuminating human interest strand continues with this eye-opening profile of three couples who spend their lives in the nude. These fearless parents fly in the face of conformity to bare all, sometimes to the horror of their neighbours and children. This lighthearted film explores the reasons behind their naturism and studies the effect their lifestyle has on their children.

Barbara and Ian are a quintessentially English, middle-class couple. They own and maintain the spectacular 16th-century Abbey House Gardens in the quaint village of Malmesbury, Wiltshire, where they live with their two sons, Rufus and Kian. But Barbara and Ian are not quite typical parents – they are dedicated naturists. They have no qualms about serving dinner to their sons and their sons’ friends in the nude, and have become famous to locals and tourists alike for their love of naked gardening.

The illuminating human interest strand continues with this eye-opening profile of three couples who spend their lives in the nude. These fearless parents fly in the face of conformity to bare all, sometimes to the horror of their neighbours and children. This lighthearted film explores the reasons behind their naturism and studies the effect their lifestyle has on their children.

Barbara and Ian are a quintessentially English, middle-class couple. They own and maintain the spectacular 16th-century Abbey House Gardens in the quaint village of Malmesbury, Wiltshire, where they live with their two sons, Rufus and Kian. But Barbara and Ian are not quite typical parents – they are dedicated naturists. They have no qualms about serving dinner to their sons and their sons’ friends in the nude, and have become famous to locals and tourists alike for their love of naked gardening.

FIVER has unveiled a second raft of both acquired and exclusively commissioned programming, as part of its new refreshed schedule, it was announced today (THUR).

FIVER will premiere the fourth series of Five's successful human interest documentary series, Hidden Lives, alongside US acquisitions Intervention, Ocean Force and The Shot. Plus, Hotel Inspector Unseen has been commissioned exclusively for FIVER.

This latest line-up of programmes will play alongside: the second series of the acclaimed Courteney Cox drama, Dirt; the hit US series from VH1 Celebrity Rehab; Glamour's Best Dressed List 2008; Madventures; and Sex and the City.

sweaty betty: hidden lives

It is often remarked that ladies do not sweat, they perspire – yet some women really do suffer from a medical condition that provokes near-constant sweating. Hyperhidrosis can lead to frequent embarrassment and discomfort as even simple activities leave sufferers dripping wet. Hidden Lives meets the women who struggle with this rarely acknowledged condition and follows their individual journeys in search of a solution.

Among the women featured is American Anne Schouveller, who has become an expert in hyperhidrosis since being diagnosed with it seven years ago. She has set up a website called ‘Sweaty Betty’ to raise awareness of the condition. Anne candidly shares her experience of this mortifying affliction, which embarrasses her 12year-old daughter and forces the whole family to adapt their activities around her sweating.

The programme also explores the story of a cheerful 19-year-old woman whose facial sweating impacts on her social life and is aggravated by her job working in a hairdresser’s. Will a course of botox injections end her lifelong struggle with hyperhidrosis?

wedding addicts: hidden lives (1/4)

The illuminating human interest strand returns tonight with another documentary exploring unusual lives and remarkable people. At a time when the number of marriages in the UK is in decline, there are some people valiantly bucking the trend and getting married not just once, but again and again. This documentary takes a look at the lives of those addicted to marriage, asking why they do it, what makes so many people walk down the aisle with them, and what happens to the trail of partners and children left behind.

A wedding is supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime event, but for Ron, Sandra, Pat and Martin, it is something they have experienced a number of times. With eight marriages under his belt, former Pontins bluecoat Ron has been dubbed the ‘most married man in Britain’. Meeting a woman at the holiday camp, marrying her, then divorcing her when the season started again became a regular event for Ron. “A lot of the times I was married to holiday centres rather than my wives. Showbusiness was like a mistress to me,” he claims. But his daughter, Kelly, sees it differently: “There’s been a lot of heartache, especially where the children are concerned,” she says. “I just want him to make it up to us.”

sweaty betty: hidden lives

It is often remarked that ladies do not sweat, they perspire – yet some women really do suffer from a medical condition that provokes near-constant sweating. Hyperhidrosis can lead to frequent embarrassment and discomfort as even simple activities leave sufferers dripping wet. Hidden Lives meets the women who struggle with this rarely acknowledged condition and follows their individual journeys in search of a solution.

Among the women featured is American Anne Schouveller, who has become an expert in hyperhidrosis since being diagnosed with it seven years ago. She has set up a website called ‘Sweaty Betty’ to raise awareness of the condition. Anne candidly shares her experience of this mortifying affliction, which embarrasses her 12year-old daughter and forces the whole family to adapt their activities around her sweating.

The programme also explores the story of a cheerful 19-year-old woman whose facial sweating impacts on her social life and is aggravated by her job working in a hairdresser’s. Will a course of botox injections end her lifelong struggle with hyperhidrosis?

wedding addicts: hidden lives

The illuminating human interest strand returns tonight with another documentary exploring unusual lives and remarkable people. At a time when the number of marriages in the UK is in decline, there are some people valiantly bucking the trend and getting married not just once, but again and again. This documentary takes a look at the lives of those addicted to marriage, asking why they do it, what makes so many people walk down the aisle with them, and what happens to the trail of partners and children left behind.

A wedding is supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime event, but for Ron, Sandra, Pat and Martin, it is something they have experienced a number of times. With eight marriages under his belt, former Pontins bluecoat Ron has been dubbed the ‘most married man in Britain’. Meeting a woman at the holiday camp, marrying her, then divorcing her when the season started again became a regular event for Ron. “A lot of the times I was married to holiday centres rather than my wives. Showbusiness was like a mistress to me,” he claims. But his daughter, Kelly, sees it differently: “There’s been a lot of heartache, especially where the children are concerned,” she says. “I just want him to make it up to us.”

Monday 23 April

raised by the hand of god: hidden lives (4/6) 21.00–22.00

According to Reverend Paul Bucknall, “if a parent does not chastise a child, a parent does not love a child.” Paul, who lives with his family in Pittsburgh, is one of a significant number of parents in the US whose ideas on the upbringing and disciplining of their children are directly informed by the Bible. In this latest in Five’s revealing and thought-provoking Hidden Lives strand, Paul and his family, together with two other families – one American, one English – talk candidly about their Biblical Parenting methods. In an age when the smacking of children is becoming increasingly taboo, does their belief in corporal punishment as the best form of discipline have any place?

Paul and his wife Linda raise their ten children according to strict guidelines, which they believe are supported by passages from the Bible. The Bucknall children are schooled at home using textbooks such as ‘Observing God’s World’, and come together twice a day for ‘devotion’ – a session involving prayer, singing and the recital of Biblical passages. They are also responsible for a number of household chores, and their access to television is largely limited to watching videos about the adventures of the Buttercream Gang, which carry clear moral messages. But the most controversial tenet is their insistence on physically chastising their offspring, usually using wooden ‘rods’ (“Scripture uses the word rods”, Paul points out) which are taken from bushes in the garden. For Paul, who sells Biblical Parenting manuals on-line, the approach is “new, modern and the way we should go. It’s exciting.”

hidden lives

The human interest documentary strand continues its third series of surprising real life stories. The six hour-long programmes feature more incredible tales from around the world, focusing on unusual and sometimes alarming personal stories.

Next week’s episode, ‘Three in a Bed’, looks at some of contemporary Britain’s most extreme relationships. The programme follows households in the UK who have chosen to live their lives as a threesome, sleep together every night in the same bed as a three, and bring up their children in a three-parent family.

It all started conventionally enough for John from Wales, a 36-year-old electrician, and his wife Shanea, a 35-year-old housewife and part-time model – a three month whirlwind romance, marriage and three kids. Then Shanea met Noel, a 30-year-old teacher from Ipswich. She had his baby, moved him into the family home and invited him to share the marital bed. All seems to be going swimmingly so far, but can such a relationship last?