Sex Box : Channel 4’s provocative programme which allow couple have sex in front of TV audience

The programme is said to be based on the work of sex therapists who encourage couples to have sex then talk about it immediately afterwards while their feelings are vivid.

Lynette Ellis, 39 and her partner Des Lashimba, 41, with no doubt face a public uproar when they appear on Channel 4’s provocative programme Sex Box, in which they have sex shrouded from view in a box in a television studio.

‘Des was terrified he wouldn’t be able to do what was needed,’ Lynette confessed. ‘But I wore some sexy underwear and that seemed to do the trick.’

Lynette insisted she and Des are not exhibitionists. ‘We have sex as part of a normal, healthy and loving relationship,’ she said. ‘I hope people will look at the programme in a positive light.’

Many have taken to Twitter to suggest the programme is even worse than soft porn because it masquerades as a public service.

Mary Beadnell wrote: ‘What the hell have we become as human beings?’ while Miranda said: ‘So there’s a new show called Sex Box where people have sex on TV . . . sounds like porn to me.’

Presented by Mariella Frostrup, the show features three couples – one of them gay – who each enter a box, and have sex for 35 minutes before emerging to talk about their experiences with psychotherapist Phillip Hodson, sex therapist Tracey Cox and relationship expert Dan Savage.

Lynette and Des admitted there was no romantic ‘warm-up’ before they walked into the opaque, sound-proofed box, where they had 35 minutes to have sex before emerging to talk about it with the sex experts.

‘Usually we’d take a lot more than half an hour from start to finish so it was a bit stressful,’ says Lynette.

 ‘It looked like a basic room in a budget hotel,’ said Lynette, a mother of three. ‘It had a double bed, side tables with a lamp, a mini-disc player and a sink. It wasn’t quite what we’d expected.’

There is little that can be seen through the box, and only when the lights on the outside turn from red to amber do the audience gets the hint that the interlude is almost over.

Lynette said she had been more nervous coming out of the room than going in. ‘We don’t usually talk about sex after we’ve done it and I was concerned what the experts were going to ask,’ she says. ‘Sex can be stress relieving, it is the ultimate anti-depressant. Sex is important to us within our relationship but not the most important thing in the world.’

‘I know they might get a bit of teasing but they didn’t object to it. We felt confident the programme wasn’t going to show sex in a dirty or degrading way and I don’t feel we have done anything to be ashamed of.’

Sex Box is on Channel 4 on  Monday, October 7 at 10pm.

When asked, why do you think we want to watch this couple having sex ? Channel 4 claims it is 'pushing the boundaries of British television’ and will prompt intelligent debate at a time when an alarming 30 per cent of online traffic is to porn sites, critics have branded the show a cheap entertainment stunt.