Graham to host new reality show on our small screens

Corkman Graham Norton is hosting a brand new reality tv show in which six real households compete in a street-sized popularity contest where the last house standing will take home a life-changing prize.

Next week, viewers will be introduced to the six real families competing in ‘The Neighbourhood’, a new 11-part series turns everyday life into a giant gameshow that’s authentic, immersive and rooted in real relationships. It marries high-stakes competition, epic challenges and domestic drama, to offer a completely fresh flavour of reality. ‘The Neighbourhood’ is not about keeping up with the Joneses - it’s about beating them.

Host Graham Norton answered some questions for us about the new show:

Q. Reality shows often focus on individuals but this one centres on families and households, what does that bring to the competition that we perhaps haven’t seen before?

“I think what’s interesting is that these aren’t contestants coming into something cold, all of them already have pre-existing relationships. They know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, they know who's going to be good in certain challenges and they know who they can rely on in a tough situation. As a viewer, it adds an extra level to the gameplay!

“One of the lovely things about the show is seeing the way the households get to know each other better even though they’ve had these relationships for a really long time. The Bradons see their mum in a different way, there are some sisters in the show and they talk about being surprised by each other, and how strong or competitive or cooperative they were and it was just a really lovely thing to see. This game somehow brought out things we didn’t expect to see,” he added.

Q. Talk to us about the tone of the show. Did anything surprise you about the contestants once filming began—either their competitiveness or their sense of community?

“I think because they were being filmed all the time, you really get to see the subtleties of family dynamics. It is very funny! Every eyeroll is caught, every raised eyebrow, every sigh. We see them all! There’s bickering in the families - all those bits made me laugh.”

Q. Winning the challenges can have huge repercussions on the gameplay and as a result, really dials up the drama. How was it to experience that? Was it tense at times and did you ever find yourself wanting to step in?

The Bandon man said: “Because the prize is so big and because these are all preexisting relationships in pre-existing households, feelings ran quite high and so there would be tension. As the game went on, things definitely became heated! As much as I enjoyed watching that play out- and we do - I wouldn’t try to stop it.

“Once it was finished, I’d see it as my job to diffuse the situation and get back to a nice place to do the next challenge or whatever the next element of the game was going to be. I think those tensions are great to watch because they’re not manufactured. No one thinks if I do this, I’ll get more air time. There are siblings who have a row, there is a father in law and a son in law having a major disagreement, which they’ll probably have again when they’re watching it on the telly!”

Q. How were the removals themselves?

“The removals you did really feel for the households. It’s horrible to stand there and watch someone put a For Sale sign in front of their house. Watching it though, I loved seeing the reactions of the people who were still in their houses watching people walk towards them with a For Sale sign. I loved that, it’s a genius bit of telly, it’s really compelling.”

Q. Whilst doing well in the challenges is one element of the gameplay, the other is to stay popular on the street to avoid being removed. How did this dynamic play out in terms of the households playing nice and forming alliances?

Norton explained that making friends is crucial. “The name of the game is stay in and to do that you’ve got to be popular with the other households. I genuinely think when they arrive, they are meeting other households the way you do when you’re moving in anywhere. They were making proper connections, proper friendships, I don’t think it was gameplay per se.

“Now, as the days went on, I think it did turn into gameplay and they started to realise ‘oh we’ve got to keep them sweet because they’re really good at challenges so they’re going to be here for a while’ all of those sort of things came into play. Throughout the show there were real friendships, people made each other laugh, it got a bit flirty floo floo between some of the households which was very sweet to see.”

Q. What was your favourite thing about ‘The Neighbourhood’?

“One of the loveliest things about the show is seeing households who would never meet in real life, not only meeting but forming proper bonds of friendship.

“There are a few moments in the show that really do bring a tear to my eye because it’s just so genuine, so lovely and properly heartwarming. It’s such an odd word to describe a show like this but it’s properly wholesome - there’s something about the bright colours, being out in the countryside, and the genuine bonds that you see created,” he explained.

‘The Neighbourhood’ starts Friday 24 April at 9pm on Virgin Media PLAY & Virgin Media One.