Women desert village for TV show
man and boy
Men will be solely responsible for parenting throughout the week
Filming has begun for a TV series which will examine how a community copes without women for seven days.
The villagers of Harby, near Lincoln, are taking part in The Week The Women Went, commissioned by BBC Three.
The men will be left to fill the domestic and community roles of village life, while their wives, mothers and sisters enjoy a mini-break.
The documentary series forms part of a season of parenting programmes to be broadcast on BBC Three later this year.
The BBC said research suggests that while women have taken more and more of a place in the world of work, men are still in the back seat as far as domestic life is concerned.
The series aims to go beyond dated clichés like 'will he burn the beans?'
Kelly Webb-Lamb, producer
Mothers - including those who work - say they feel part of a community, but it is not uncommon for men to have no connection with their neighbours or community.
Series producer Kelly Webb-Lamb - who also produced Back To The Floor and I'll Show Them Who's Boss - said: "The series aims to go beyond dated clichés like 'will he burn the beans? Can he change nappies?' We want to see what men do differently.
"Of course there's an element of fun here and it will be a fascinating experiment, but if we didn't feel the community as a whole would learn something of value from their experience and look at their lives differently afterwards, we wouldn't be doing it."
'Typical English village'
Webb-Lamb said the production team spent five months trying to find the perfect location for the experiment.
Harby - with a population of about 300 people - was chosen because it was a good example of a typical English village in the 21st Century and because their was a lot of support for the project.
She said: "We got out, spoke to people about the idea. If they thought it might work and seemed interested, we spent more time going door-to-door to build up a proper picture of the village and the level of support for the project."
BBC
