Channel 4 documentary to follow secondary school pupils in long-term study

Class Of 2020 hopes to reflect the challenges of growing up in modern Britain.

A new documentary on Channel 4 will follow a group of secondary school pupils as they live through “unprecedented and uniquely challenging times”.

Class Of 2020, a long-term study in the Midlands, will document the pupils, both inside and outside of school, as they live through the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent schools shutdown.

According to Channel 4, it will see them “navigate their changing identities, personal relationships and their place in the world, which seems more uncertain than ever before”.

The six-part series will be made by Label1, the production company behind the documentaries Hospital and School.

Lorraine Charker-Phillips, head of programmes and co-founder of Label1, said: “We’re honoured to be making a series with such scale and ambition, capturing the authentic experiences of young people transitioning into adulthood in a complex and challenging decade, and giving them a platform to have their voices heard.”

Fozia Khan, commissioning editor of documentaries at Channel 4, said: “We’re delighted to be making this important and ambitious series with Label1.

“It feels like exactly the right moment to give young people a platform to document their experiences and express themselves in these unprecedented and uniquely challenging times.”