Starting on 6th September at 21:00 BBC 2 is running a three part series challenging a group of 12 teenagers to stay celibate for five months.

In No Sex Please, We’re Teenagers, two Christian youth workers tried to get participants to swap “casual sex for old-fashioned courting rituals”.

They said the young people would be happier if they were in long-term, serious relationships.

“This is not a reality show in the Big Brother sense,” a BBC spokeswoman said. “It is a three-part observational documentary series.”

The teenagers, aged between 15 and 17 and from Harrow, north-west London, attended weekly “Romance Academy” sessions with the youth workers.