Channel 4 plans 'Jackass' sex education

Channel 4 is refreshing its sex education coverage for teenagers with a new project that combines "Jackass with Brainiac and the Gorillaz", it revealed today. KNTV Sex, a TV programme with related internet content, uses animated characters called Kierky and Nietzsche to discuss issues including puberty, pregnancy, fetishes and the male and female bodies.

It uses an oddball mix of factual voiceovers and Eastern European public service films and Candid Camera-style footage. The Tern Television production builds on the KNTV Philosophy series on science and philosophy, many of which were shared by fans on YouTube, and will run as a 10-part TV series with spin-off games and viral content.

Channel 4 announced last year that it would shift the focus of its £6m education budget away from TV to online as it tries to reach the 14-19 age group. Its latest projects, which have budgets ranging from £500,000 to just over £1m, include a campaigning platform called Battlefront, which will mentor 20 teenage campaigners and show them how to use the internet to raise interest in their causes.

Teens have so far initiated campaigns about gun crime, support for asylum-seekers and a school where pupils feel the level of supply teachers is impairing their education. The final projects will be chosen and rolled out in the autumn. Channel 4 is discussing collaborations with MySpace and Bebo, including the careers-focused Year Dot project.

The broadcaster also signalled a further departure from TV convention by co-funding, rather than commissioning, the online mentoring start-up School of Everything. "Broadcasters need to consider their role in the ecology of the web, and the way they work with some of these incredible tools," said Matt Locke, Channel 4's new media commissioner for education. "Users already have debates and social lives online and we have to think about how to work with rather than reinventing those. Rather than create our own social network, we have partnered with MySpace so the discussions can continue after the project. It's an important legacy of the work we do, so our projects can degrade gracefully back into the web."