Channel 4 hit Gogglebox will regain one of its families when the new sixth series kicks off on Friday September 11.

Andrew Michael, his wife, Carolyne, and children, Louis and Alex, return to the popular TV show about families watching television after his failure to win the Hastings and Rye seat for Ukip in the general election.

Michael told the Radio Times: “Having seen 13 families in their natural habitat, you have an insight into British society in its multifarious colours.”

Andrew and Carolyne Michael
Former Channel 4 Gogglebox stars Andrew and Carolyne Michael attend the Ukip spring conference at the Winter Gardens Theatre in Margate, Kent, in February. (Gareth Fuller/PA)

Dropped in December 2014, a Channel 4 spokesperson said at the time: “Sadly any Gogglebox cast member who becomes a candidate for a political party will have to step down from their involvement in Gogglebox.”

The show also lost the Gilbey family in August 2014 after son George signed up for Celebrity Big Brother.

It began with a modest four-episode run in March 2013 and drew around 1.2 million viewers, but word-of-mouth about the bawdiness of ‘posh couple’ Steph and Dom Parker, the junk food-eating habits of south London’s Sandy Channer and Sandra Martin, and the affectionate bickering of pensioners Leon and June Bernicoff boosted the ratings and made the participants stars without having to leave their sofas.

Fearne Cotton with the Radio Personality Award alongside Steph and Dom from Gogglebox at the 2014 Glamour Women of the Year Awards in Berkeley Square, London. (Ian West/PA)
Fearne Cotton with the Radio Personality Award alongside Steph and Dom from Gogglebox at the 2014 Glamour Women of the Year Awards in Berkeley Square, London. (Ian West/PA)

The show is not faked or scripted: “I never liked Carol Vorderman. She never turned me on,” says 80-year-old Bernicoff while his wife looks on exasperated.

It’s a simple format, but demanding to make: two remote cameras in each living room (one fixed, one roaming for close-ups); one temporary control room set up in an adjoining room film each house for two evenings a week; editing on Tuesday; final cut to Channel 4 on Thursday; transmission on a Friday.

Gogglebox viewers have remained glued to the show despite the occasional family axings and it is now Channel 4′s number one-rated programme, with consolidated viewing figures nearing 5 million for series five.