Time Warp Wives

Channel 4 at 7:30pm (Other show times...)

While some people escape the stresses of 21st-century life by taking exercise, a foreign holiday or a large glass of wine, some have found a very different survival strategy: retreating into the past.

Sally Hewitt's film takes a step back in time to meet four women who are desperate to be old-fashioned housewives. Joanne, Debbie, Diane and Sammi all hanker after life in a different era. And it's not just about vintage clothes and vintage décor: they have vintage values to match.

Joanne and her husband Kevin live in a perfect 1950s house and take traditional roles: "I would say it makes for a very successful marriage," says Joanne, who, after being made redundant ten years ago, now spends her days scrubbing the kitchen floor and baking cakes. "It fills me with a happy wifely glow when Kevin comes in and says 'these are delicious'."

Sammi, 20, aspires to be a 40s housewife; Debbie is a devotee of the 50s; and Diane has transformed her semi into a "1930s cocoon". "My perfect world," says Diane, "would be living in a neighbourhood of likeminded people".

With growing numbers of people in the UK choosing to live like this, is it just a glimpse of the past or could it be a vision of the future?

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