4 January 2011 (2011-01-04) – 8 July 2015 (2015-07-08)
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Snow, Sex and Suspicious Parents Festivals, Sex and Suspicious Parents
Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents is a British documentary/reality television series aired on BBC Three from 4 January 2011 – 8 July 2015.
Concept
People in their late teens and early twenties go on their first girls'/lads' holiday abroad under the belief that they are getting away from their parents. However, their parents are also sent to the holiday destination and secretly watch footage of their children on video screens and also spy in their hotel rooms and at nightclub locations. The parents then reveal themselves on the last night of the holiday, to the dismay of the children, and tell them what they've seen and learned.
Viewing figures
The 2012 series regularly hit high viewing figures for a digital television programme. The Ayia Napa episode was the "most watched multichannels show" of 15 February 2012 with 1.26 million viewers, beating The Only Way Is Essex.[1]
The Malia episode had 899,000 viewers whilst the Ibiza episode was reportedly the most watched programme of the series, with 1.42 million viewers according to BARB.
On BBC Three in the UK, Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents was the number one unscripted show of 2012, doubling the slot average and was also the most requested show on the BBC iPlayer catch-up service during February 2012.[2]
Press reviews
The programme has been met with many national reviews. The Metro called the programme "brilliantly tacky" and said it's enough to make people "practically wet themselves with excitement".[3] However, not all reviews were so light-hearted with The Guardian calling it "one to miss"[4] and The Independent saying it's "one of BBC3's more obnoxious offerings".[5]
The BBC began recruiting for a new series called "The Big Vacation" during 2012.[8]
This was later confirmed to be the third series of Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents, consisting of eight episodes. The series began on 8 January 2013 at 9pm, include seven holiday episodes and one recap episode which will include the best participants from the series.[2] The BBC confirmed these reports on 4 December 2012 when they advertised new programmes being introduced to the channel, which included a short clip from the new series of Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents.
Mummy's girl Charli, 18 and Max, 18 from Kent go for a week's partying on the Greek island of Kos.
5
Zante
5 February 2013 (2013-02-05)
1,272,000
Two 18-year-old boys; builder Phil from Liverpool and openly gay Cian from Cheltenham, who have completely different lives, head off to the Greek party island of Zante.
6
Kavos
12 February 2013 (2013-02-12)
1,036,000
Two 19-year-olds; Ollie who lives in Bath and Katy who lives in Basildon head off for week in Kavos.
7
Ayia Napa
19 February 2013 (2013-02-19)
1,013,000
Londoner Ashleigh and Tom, from Bolton head off to the clubbing capital of Cyprus, Ayia Napa.
8
After the Holiday
26 February 2013 (2013-02-26)
Under 600,000
A look back at the third series, in this episode, the parents and the teens talk about their experiences on the show and what happened after.
Series 4: Thailand (2014)
Series four began on 13 January 2014 and branches out beyond Europe for the first time. It features individuals travelling to Thailand, who were told that they were being filmed for a show called "Thailand Style".[9]
12 November 2013 (2013-11-12) – 18 November 2014 (2014-11-18)
Series 1
In addition to recommissioning series four, a spin-off series was commissioned for late 2013.[10] The first series, consisting of four episodes, began in November 2013.[11]
The six skiers reveal what happened after the older generation came out of their hiding places, and are given the chance to see their parents' reactions to their behaviour during the spying mission.[12]
26 February 2014 (2014-02-26) – 6 September 2015 (2015-09-06)
Series one began airing on 26 February 2014,[13] which featured individuals travelling to music festivals within the UK. The second series began to air 26 May 2015 on BBC Three, this series saw groups of young adults heading to music festivals abroad.
