Demands for 'cruel' show to be taken off air

There were demands today for the controversial Channel 4 programme 'Boys and Girls Alone' to be taken off air, as a group of leading child experts condemned the TV show as cruel.

Some 36 experts, including child psychologists, paediatricians, educationalists and charities, signed a letter to The Times newspaper alleging that the programme - in which a group of 20 children aged eight to 11 have been left to their own devices in isolated cottages in Cornwall, England - contains "child abuse and cruelty".