Ananova:

Channel 4 is to carry out the ultimate test to find the difference between the sexes by getting men and women to swap gender for three months.

Eight volunteers embark on a 90-day mission to swap sex for their roles in three-part series Boy Meets Girl. But they don't all make it to the outside world.

In Boy Meets Girl four men and four women are followed on their progression from one sex to the other.

"None of them had any desire to change their gender. They weren't transvestites or transsexuals," said a Channel 4 spokeswoman. "It is more an exploration of what it is like on the other side of the fence and seeing life from the other direction."

In the first episode they are psychiatrically assessed and visit a gender consultant and two are eliminated from the experiment. They are then given training, physically and psychologically, and change their wardrobes. By the final episode, only four volunteers remain.

"That's when they go out properly into the outside world to see what it is like for the opposite sex," said the spokeswoman.

The series is part of Channel 4's winter line-up. Other programmes include a major adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Sword Of Honour, featuring award-winning actor Daniel Craig and big screen veteran Leslie Phillips.

Other dramas include Teachers, a light-hearted look at young teachers in Bristol starring This Life's Andrew Lincoln, and Metrosexuality about an unconventional family in London's trendy Notting Hill. The season also includes returns for Channel 4 comedy hits like Trigger Happy TV and Spaced.

Tim Gardam, Channel 4's director of programmes, said: "Channel 4's schedule this winter is proof, I hope, that the future of quality television does not have to be two episodes of EastEnders sandwiching The Weakest Link.

"It is a source of justifiable pride to everyone at Channel 4 that 18 years on, despite the suffocating competition of today's TV market, we are still able to offer a more diverse and intelligent mix of programming than any commercial broadcaster in the world at absolutely no cost to British viewers."

The channel continues its "100 greatest ..." series with The 100 Greatest Number One Singles, a countdown of viewers favourites hosted by Graham Norton.