Baby Boom (Israeli TV Series)

Baby Boom is adapted from the British format One Born Every Minute, a program created by British production company Dragonfly and distributed by Shine.[1] The format had been sold to no more than six countries at the time of the Israeli launch, a limited number that international producer Kevin Maynday attributed to the high cost of production.[1] The British version, however, had aired in more than 100 countries.[1]

Producer Asaf Gil, who led the Israeli production through his company Gil Productions, characterized the series as documentary rather than conventional reality television.[2] He described its focus as the human story of relationships surrounding childbirth — not medical events — and said the production aimed to portray participants respectfully without intervening in events.[2] Filming was conducted with fixed cameras inside the maternity ward, recording couples around the clock during the birth process.[2]

The Israeli production filmed its first season at the maternity ward of Beilinson Hospital.[2] The production process required 24-hour filming and supervision, a lengthy casting process, and gradual persuasion of expectant mothers to take part.[1] Each episode carried an estimated production cost of NIS 500,000, reflecting those operational demands and the technical expenses of continuous hospital filming.[1]

Asaf Gil reported that 60 couples were filmed for the Israeli version, which he described as the largest number recruited in any country where the format had aired.[2] Couples agreed to round-the-clock filming but were given the opportunity to reconsider after the birth, with production seeking their renewed consent before including them.[2] Gil said the cast encompassed couples of varied ages, social and economic backgrounds, levels of religious observance, and sexual orientations, including lesbian couples.[2]

Kevin Maynday, who oversaw international versions of the format and accompanied the Israeli production from format acquisition through broadcast, noted that the Israeli delivery rooms stood out for the level of family participation, physical expressiveness, and sheer noise.[1] He recalled one woman bringing a photographer into the delivery room — something he said he had not encountered in any other country's version.[1] Maynday described the Israeli production as collecting "only the magic" from the hospital's stream of births and everyday activity.[1]

Baby Boom premiered on Channel 10 in 2014 and ran for five seasons on that network.[3] A preview of the second season, also set at Beilinson Hospital, described the first season as having relatively high ratings.[4] A separate Globes report put its average rating at 18.5% among Jewish households.[1] When Channel 10 shifted its programming to channel 14 starting November 1, 2017, Baby Boom was among the shows listed as moving with it.[5]

In January 2024, Ynet reported that the series had been approved for a return after roughly six years off the air, moving from Channel 10 to Keshet.[3] The sixth season subsequently aired on Keshet in 2024.[6] The revival was planned for filming at Lis Maternity Hospital at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov), with Endemol named as producer and original series editor Yuval Cohen set to return.[3] Professor Yariv Yogev — who appeared in the first season as head of the delivery room and had since become director of Lis Hospital — was expected to participate.[3]

A seventh season premiered on Keshet 12 on September 7, 2026.[7] Ynet described it as the network's second season of the show.[8] Its opening episode followed comedians Roy Tzabari and Almog Shor: Shor was hospitalized at week 24 after signs of premature labor, contractions returned at week 28, and an emergency cesarean delivered their baby prematurely.[8] The same episode featured a story connected to a descendant of Menachem Begin, with Begin's daughter Hasia depicted attending births in the extended family and cutting the umbilical cord.[8]

The 2024 sixth season was reviewed as a post–October 7 production whose birth stories were visibly shaped by the aftermath of the Hamas attacks and the ongoing war.[6] Among the stories covered was the connection between obstetrician Yariv Yogev and police officer Lihi Azulai, whose family histories intersected through the murder of Libi Cohen-Magori at the Nova festival.[6] Another story followed David and Hadar Tannenbaum, a religious couple navigating the restrictions on physical contact during labor that their observance required.[6]

Questions about the series' claim to documentary status surfaced in early coverage. Gil maintained that the production did not intervene and filmed only with full participant consent.[2] Maynday acknowledged that the program selected material consistent with its positive editorial approach, stating that footage showing careless or indifferent treatment by medical staff would be excluded from broadcast, though the production would report such incidents to the hospital.[1] The interviewer explicitly challenged the documentary claim in light of that selectivity.[1]

The presence of cameras in a delivery room also raised privacy and consent considerations. Sources reported that the production sought renewed consent from participants after birth before including their footage, though the inherent sensitivity of filming such intimate moments remained a point of discussion around the series.[2]