The First Reality Show: An American Family

The Brits Took Notes

The following year after An American Family aired, in 1974, BBC aired their own version of the series called The Family. However, instead of an upper-class family, the British version followed a working class family called The Wilkins family. The family of six lived in Reading, England.

Like the Louds, the Wilkins ended up divorcing some time later, in 1978. The show was also parodied by legendary British comedians on their respective shows the Monty Python comedy troupe and Benny Hill. The mother from the show, Margaret, died in 2008 at age 73, and the father Terry subsequently died on Halloween day 2016, at age 82.