The joyous four-year-olds who taught us to love Christmas again: Children from Channel 4 documentary return to retirement home to form an even more magical bond between the young and old

All the best Christmas stories are a little bit schmaltzy. And David and Eva's is no different. 'I think I'm in love with her,' says David. 'She comes to tea. We have a little chat. There is usually cake. It's just delightful.'

But this is no ordinary love story. David is an 80-year-old retired geologist who featured earlier this year in Channel 4's Old People's Home for Four-Year-Olds. His 'sweetheart' Eva is one of the boisterous children who were parachuted into David's retirement home to see if the different generations would benefit from spending time together.

Viewers watched, entranced, as the stillness of life in St Monica's Trust retirement home in Bristol was shattered by a veritable invasion of ten noisy, high-spirited children, and pensioners like curmudgeonly Hamish - who declared that he couldn't see any good coming of the experiment - were (literally) hauled out of their chairs and forced to play.

New life was ushered into the home not just in the form of the chattering children but with a bank of incubators housing duck eggs. Have you ever watched other people watching baby ducklings hatch? It was an unusual piece of television but a deeply affecting one. Joy broke out. Laughter suddenly filled the place.

And the film wasn't just an entertainment triumph. A raft of tests conducted on the residents before and after their six weeks spent in the company of the children proved that having inquisitive little beings around was hugely beneficial for the pensioners' health.

Even grumpy Hamish — who has only one leg and had previously complained about mobility issues — was filmed rolling around on the floor, pretending to be a lion.

For widower David, whose grandchildren are now in their 30s, the whole experience was magical.



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