UK factual format that originated on Channel 4 to be turned into five-episode show for TV2
TV2 in Norway has remade Top Hat Productions’ social experiment format The Great School Swap from Keshet International (KI).
The show, which will be known locally as Skolebytte (School Switch), is produced by local prodco Teddy TV and is inspired by a US integration initiative from the 1960s.
The format originally debuted as a three-parter on Channel 4 in the UK in 2019 and saw pupils from an all-white school in Tamworth, swap with pupils from a nearby all-Asian school in an ambitious experiment to integrate teens from different cultures and backgrounds.
The results saw the children overcome misconceptions and prejudices caused by living in segregated communities.
Trygve Rønningen, TV 2’s program director, said: “Skolebytte shows how meetings across differences can create understanding and community. We hope TV viewers will be inspired by the openness and curiosity of these young people.
“Prejudices can be challenged and broken down when people meet and share experiences, and our hope is that this series contributes to exactly that.”
Kelly Wright, KI’s managing director of distribution, added: “When this show premiered on Channel 4, it sparked conversations around segregation, stereotypes, and integration, while also suggesting that young people are more capable of seeing beyond prejudices than many of the grown-ups around them.
“I hope Norway responds in a similarly positive way to TV 2’s School Switch.”
Skolebytte will run to five episodes and will bring together 24 children aged 14–15 from two culturally different schools located on opposite sides of Oslo to explore social divides and cultural contrasts.
Over the course of two weeks – one spent at each school – the students experience each other’s daily lives, meet families, and participate in structured lessons and discussions.
Skolebytte premieres tomorrow on TV 2 Play and TV 2 Direkte.
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