After Gogglebox comes Gogglesprogs - let's hope kids really do say the funniest things

The old adage goes that you should never work with children and animals. It seems Channel 4 didn’t get the memo. The broadcaster has had recent success with its The Secret Life of 4, 5 and 6-Year-Olds, a programme that is essentially eavesdropping on youngsters’ playground conversations, and now there’s another kid-focused show in the offing: Gogglesprogs.

As the name suggests, it’s a spin-off of Gogglebox, the telly experience that is watching people watching television. It might sound dodgy on paper, but it has proved to be ratings gold since it started in 2013. Over four million viewers are tuning in each week (seven million with the seven-day consolidated figures), the sixth series is finishing today and a another is slated for early next year.

Gogglesprogs was initially just a festive special but Channel 4 announced this week that it has been commissioned for a six-part series. Unlike its big brother, in which the cast watch programmes from the week just gone, the kids won’t be working to the same fast turn-around times. Instead they will be shown TV shows from the first half of the year before the transmission in the summer.

I’m not sure what those will be but the Christmas special includes some of the big television stories of the year, like The Great British Bake Off and coverage of the general election.

Though some applied on social media, like the grown-up version of the show, street casting was the preferred method for finding the line-up for the festive edition. Researchers hit cinemas and kids’ clubs. After all, it’s in unlikely places that telly stars can be born. Two of Gogglebox’s biggest (and loudest) subject, Sandy and Sandra, were discovered when a researcher went to shelter from the rain in a Brixton pub. Popular Scouse couple Leon and June came to producers’ attention when scouts met Leon at a Liverpool bridge club.

The result is that there are children from all over the country, aged from five to 12, and the 10 sets feature in either family or friendship groups – including a posse of five friends in Kent, sisters who’ve watched Frozen 15 times and a pair of pals in Yorkshire, one of whom is an aspiring accountant. Some of those will be returning for the full series, though they’ll be extending the pool of children.

Channel 4 is remaining tight-lipped about any more details, except to say there is some wisdom from some unexpected places. “When I watch Gogglebox, the adults often reflect what you’re thinking. Children are so unexpected in what they think and the way they react. They don’t say what you think they’re going to say but what they say is brilliant and funny,” producer Freya Sampson told i.

The general election was apparently a hit with the kids. “One girl watched Ed Miliband’s resignation and she said ‘you should never give up on your dreams. It’s not about winning it’s about taking part’. It was such a nice message.” I, for one, can’t wait to see what they make of Jeremy Corbyn.