Bosses go undercover for Five reality series

Undercover Boss is described as a cross between Secret Millionaire (pictured) and Back to the Floor.

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Five has commissioned Love Productions to develop a reality format described as "The Secret Millionaire meets Back to the Floor".

In Undercover Boss, the heads of five major companies will pose incognito amid their staff to see how the company really operates - and what their employees secretly think of them.

Their reasons for taking part range from a desire to understand their workforce better to addressing serious problems or preparing for a restructure of the business.

Bosses will assume a variety of roles and adopt a range of alibis for taking part in the show, which will use a mixture of undercover filming and footage filmed under the guise of a standard documentary about the company. Each edition will build up to the boss revealing his or her identity.

"The problem with being a boss is that you're not always told the truth about what's going on in your company," said Love Productions creative director Richard McKeown, who will executive produce. "Someone's more likely to tell you what they think of the boss if he doesn't know you are that boss."

Love is also pitching the show to US networks and said a couple of them were interested in developing a pilot.

The 5 x 60-minute series will air this year. It was commissioned by commissioning editor of factual entertainment and features Robi Dutta and will be produced for Love by Hannah Wesson.