By Lucy Caulkett-
Channel 4 has hired a casting team to find a Scottish family for TV’s Gogglebox , following complaints from a politician and viewers.
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross grilled bosses at the broadcaster during a parliamentary committee hearing in September on why there had not been Scots on the show since 2016.
He joked he could take part with his wife as he admitted they were big fans of the show, tuning in “every week”.
Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon has revealed that half of the 99 complaints the channel received about its programming in Scotland last year were about the lack of Scottish people on Gogglebox, with the frustration shared by Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross, BBC News reports.
Ross raised the issue with the broadcaster during a Scottish affairs committee meeting in Westminster in September, saying at the time it was ‘just crazy’ that a Scottish family had not been featured on the programme since 2016. The MP said he and his wife settle down to watch the show ‘every week’ and suggested they themselves ‘could be part of it’.
Mahon told MPs ‘it would be better to have a Scottish family’ on the show, and has since assured the committee that Channel 4 has ‘agreed a separate budget for a dedicated casting team specifically tasked with finding a suitable Scottish family’.
Ross said the casting period is ‘already under way and will run up to Christmas’, adding that the goal is to ‘identify at least one Scottish family who will become part of the Gogglebox cast for the next series, which will air in the new year’.
According to Mahon, many of the people who complained about the lack of Scots in the series ‘were getting in touch to put themselves forward’, though only time will tell which family will make the cut.
Channel 4 chief executive Alex Mahon has written to the committee confirming the search for Scottish participants.
“The casting period is already underway and will run up to Christmas,” she said.
Ms Mahon also revealed of 99 complaints to Channel 4 relating to Scotland in the last year, 49 were about a lack of Scottish representation on the Gogglebox.
“Many of those who contacted us to raise this were getting in touch to put themselves forward,” she said.