The Living Soap

The Living Soap was a BBC North fly on the wall documentary series broadcast in 1993, which set out to show the everyday lives of six students sharing a house in Manchester. The six chosen students gave up their privacy for one year in return for free rent and the chance to be on television. Out of the original six participants, four of them left the show and were replaced by other willing students, chosen by a public telephone vote. Although the series was groundbreaking, The Living Soap attracted the wrong kind of controversy and was taken off the air after about five months, though filming continued. The remaining housemates appeared in two one-hour specials later on in 1994.