RDF Television’s critically acclaimed award-winning series The Secret Life of 4 Year Olds (Channel 4) is heading into production around Europe, it was announced today, following a host of new format deals concluded by companies within Banijay, the world’s largest independent content creation group.

Zodiak Belgium has produced a 6 x 35’ series of The Secret Life of 4 Year Olds for French-speaking Belgium, which launched on RTBF in early October.  In France TF1 will launch its own version before the end of the year (1 x 90’ + 2 x 60’), with TF1’s subsidiary channel NT1 debuting a 4 x 60’ series produced by Banijay Group’s KM Productions. In the Netherlands a 6 x 45’ series has been commissioned for launch in 2017 on NPO1, produced by Zodiak Netherlands.

A local Spanish version of The Secret Life of 4 Year Olds launched in September on Movistar+. The 6 x 60’ series is produced by Magnolia Spain. These new commissions add to the recent ratings success of local adaptations on VTM (Flemish-speaking Belgium) and DR1 (Denmark).

RDF Television’s award-winning documentary The Secret Life of 4 Year Olds launched in 2015 in the UK, and was Channel 4’s most popular factual programme of the past five years, leading to the commission of two full series. The Secret Life of 4, 5 and 6 Year Olds series was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award in 2016, and most recently won the Grierson Award for Best Entertaining Documentary. A brand new series (4 x 60’) launched on Channel 4 in November continuing its outstanding ratings performance attracting an audience of 2.2m viewers (live data), and consolidating to nearly 2.7m to date.

Additionally, The Secret Life of Brothers and Sisters (2 x 60’) aired in the summer, and a further two episodes of The Secret Life of 5 Year Olds (2 x 60’) will air in 2017.

Zodiak Rights, the international distribution arm of Banijay, has sold the 7 x 60’ and 1 x 60’ original finished series around the world, including to Australia (Foxtel), Africa (BBC Worldwide), Sweden (SVT), Spain (Movistar+), Italy, Norway, Denmark (Discovery),Iceland (365) Belgium (Medialaan), New Zealand (TVNZ), French Speaking Canada (Canal Vie), Hong Kong (TVB Pearl) and Israel (Yes).

Teresa Watkins, Creative Director, Development at RDF Television and Executive Producer of The Secret Life of 4 Year Olds and associated series in the UK, commented, “Everyone involved in the production of The Secret Life of 4 Year Olds falls in love with it – we haven’t seen such young children in this way before and the series is a privilege to work on. So it’s a total joy to see it travelling around the world like this. And heart-warming to know there’s a global appetite for such uplifting television.”

Lifting the lid on a previously unseen world, watching 10 four-year-old children meeting for the first time at nursery and interacting in unprecedented, intimate detail, The Secret Life of 4 Year Olds was originally created by RDF Television for the UK’s Channel 4. Thought-provoking, entertaining and genuinely surprising, the format presents a compelling insight into a high-pressure world filled with tears, laughter, drama, politics, power struggles and larger-than-life characters.

Banijay’s international distribution arm, Zodiak Rights holds worldwide distribution rights.