Two of Northern Sydney Local Health District’s staff swapped their clinic rooms for the TV studio as part of a revolutionary social experiment being broadcast by the ABC.

Clinical Director for Aged Care and Rehabilitation Professor Sue Kurrle (pictured below) and physiotherapist and rehab coordinator Nicola Kertanegara (pictured right) star on the new program Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds.

The pair feature as experts in the five part series, which premiered this week, and will continue at 8.30pm next Tuesday.

The premise of the show sees pre-school aged children essentially go to class in a shared a space with older people.

Across the seven week experiment, participants test a model of care that could transform the way we support our most vulnerable Australians.

Two groups of eleven older Australians and ten pre-schoolers are brought together for planned, mixed activities each day in a specially designed pre-school built within a retirement home.

They share a structured timetable that encourages physical activity, social interaction, learning and happiness.

Sue said the program offered much more than cute interaction and belly laughs.

"In order to make positive change for people in aged care here, we need evidence that intergenerational care can work in this country," she said.

"We hope that our experiment will give that evidence and allow it to be adopted much more widely.

"Older people were young once and hopefully seeing these four-year-olds will really draw them out of themselves and get them singing and laughing and dancing again as they would’ve when they were younger, bringing them back into life again."

Nicola said the camera took some getting used to, but she was delighted to be a part of such an important experiment.

"Being on TV was a huge learning curve for me, I am just an everyday person doing an everyday physiotherapist job," she said.

"The whole experience was a lovely project to be a part of and very rewarding to see such a positive idea put into aged care."

Nicola encouraged everyone to tune in on Tuesday evening at 8.30pm as the series continues to showcase the wonderful stories and heart-warming moments that intergenerational care provides.

"Seeing the close bonds created by the children with the residents was definitely a highlight," she said.

"I also personally loved that the children were such great motivators – I am constantly asking patients to get up and go for a walk or to be more active and yet I never have as much success as those children do."

"Seeing the close bonds created by the children with the residents was definitely a highlight."

See the promo to the show below.