Returning: Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds

Hit ABC series Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds is back for a second season in April.

Narrated by Annabel Crabb, season two brings seniors who live alone into a purpose-built pre-school, where cameras watch their interaction with a new cast of 4 year old children.

Get out the Kleenex and tell the Goggleboxers…. the trailer says it all.

In the first season, Australia fell in love with the 11 residents of a retirement village and the 10 preschoolers who were brought together for daily activities. The aim, to see if uniting young and old could improve the health and happiness of older adults. This season we’ve flipped the tables, when a new group of older Australians join a bunch of lively 4-year-olds, in a purpose-built pre-school, for fun, games, learning and friendship.

Unlike last season, our new group of seniors all live in their own homes, but we find that loneliness and isolation don’t just effect those living in aged care. Like the 1.6 million Australians over the age of 65, who live alone at home, our participants find themselves at the crossroads of wanting to live in their own homes but needing help to remain healthy and happy enough to stay there.

With the care of older Australians more important than ever, could this simple idea help older people live a more fulfilling life?

The goal for Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds, season 2, is to switch the experiment in the name of early intervention, by taking aging adults into the kids’ domain, to reconnect them to their community to help them maintain their independence. With more opportunities for home visits, excursions and community building, this radical early intervention idea will build on the success of the original series.

Will our experiment find a way to keep the elderly living in their own homes independently while finding a greater connection to their local communities in the process? And can we relieve the stress on Australia’s aged care system by getting in early? Only time will tell.

Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds is an Endemol Shine Australia production in association with the ABC. Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds is a format created by CPL Productions for Channel 4 (UK), and distributed worldwide by Red Arrow Studios International. This production was supported by Screen Australia through the COVID-19 Budget Support Fund Program.

Executive Producer Debbie Cuell, Series Producer Bethan Arwell-Lewis, CEO Endemol Shine Australia Peter Newman, ABC Factual Manager Julie Hanna, and ABC Head of Factual & Culture Jennifer Collins.

Tuesday 6 April at 8.30pm on ABC.