Celebrity guests including Dawn Fraser, Denise Drysdale, Mark Olive and Stephanie Alexander visit to impart wisdom about changing times and menus.

"The '70s was probably one of my favourites, because it brought me back to my childhood," says Carol. "I was a latchkey kid. I'm an only child and my parents both had to work, so I would come home to an empty house and get into the lolly jar and watch daytime television that I probably shouldn't have been watching. My kids have the opposite lifestyle. I manage my schedule around them, probably too much, actually. Pretty much every day (of "'70s week") my girls had to come home to an empty house and got into a bit of mischief."

All the Ferrone children are natural television talent, exuding confidence and maturity beyond their years. Academic Julian, 17, makes astute observations. Social butterfly Sienna, 15, is good-natured about being sent to work as a secretary in the 1960s. And dad Peter, whom Carol says is the shyest, seems perpetually bemused.

While the cameras caught all the essential reality ingredients – the tears, the shocks, the physical comedy of roller skating and ninja training (the latter led by The Biggest Loser's Commando in the final episode, set in "the future"), there is genuine warmth to the non-competitive series.

"What I hope the audience takes from it is an appreciation of the evolution of families over time," says Carol. "Definitely, a lot of things have improved. Not just technology but kitchens have improved, giving women more time to spend with their families and go to work and have a career. But at the same time, I want people to see what we've lost.

"It's almost like a bell curve. We start the series with me being by myself all the time, and then as we move through the decades, we're doing more things together and having a great time. And then it starts to drop off as technology advances and everybody starts doing their own thing again.

"I hope people watch it and go, 'You know what? I really need to find a balance'."