Big Brother (British TV series)
Template:Big Brother UK sidebarBig Brother is a reality television series broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Channel 4 and E4, and on S4C in Wales. Internationally, it is broadcast on the Polish network TVN.[1] It is part of the Big Brother franchise first developed in the Netherlands, and is currently the second longest running series in the franchise. Channel 4 has confirmed that it will not broadcast Big Brother after 2010.[2]
Overview
Big Brother is a gameshow in which a group of contestants, called housemates, live in isolation from the outside world in a "house" that is custom built but includes everyday objects, such as a fully equipped kitchen and a garden. The House is also a television studio, and includes cameras and microphones in most of the rooms to record the activity of the housemates. The only place where housemates can escape the company of the other contestants is the Diary Room, where they are encouraged to voice their true feelings.
Each week all housemates nominate two of their fellows for potential eviction. The two or more housemates with the highest number of nominations face a public vote conducted by phone and, in some years, text message and the one with the most votes is evicted from the House. Occasionally more than one housemate may be evicted in a week. The last contestant remaining in the house is declared the winner and awarded a large cash prize. The show's name comes from George Orwell's 1948 novel 1984, a dystopia in which Big Brother is the all-seeing, omnipotent leader of Oceania.
The main television coverage takes the form of a daily highlights programme narrated by Marcus Bentley. The launch programme, introducing the contestants to the House, live evictions and the finale programme are hosted by Davina McCall. The show is produced by Brighter Pictures, an Endemol company.
Main series
Presenters
Davina McCall hosts the Live Eviction shows, as well as the first episode of the series (called the Launch Night) and the Live Finale. The highlights show features the previous day's events condensed into a one hour show. This is narrated by Marcus Bentley, who also narrates for the Live Eviction and Live Finale shows.
Auditions
Big Brother open auditions have been held around the UK and Ireland since Big Brother 5. Before this, auditionees had to send audition tapes to the producers. Auditions for the tenth series were also held on YouTube, where people could record their audition and put it on the Big Brother YouTube channel. There has been much speculation amongst Big Brother fans that a new audition process will come into place for the final series. It is believed this will put an end to rumours that housemates are selected from agencies and/or have connections to Big Brother, Channel 4 or Endemol staff.
Current format
Launch Night
On the night of the Live Launch several members of the public, who have successfully passed through several audition processes, enter the House to become Housemates of the Big Brother House. Once inside the house the Housemates will live together and have no contact with the outside world. They will be recorded 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on cameras that cover nearly every inch of the House, including a special room known as the Diary Room. They are also recorded by microphones located throughout the House, as well as being worn by the Housemates themselves. Nearly every movement and word spoken is seen and heard by the ever present Big Brother.
Big Brother
The Housemates can be addressed by Big Brother through a PA system located within the house, and when the Housemates are addressed by Big Brother, it always refers to itself in the third person. Big Brother has several voices and is sexless, although its voices can be either male or female, depending on which member of the production crew is taking on the role at that time. Big Brother is also emotionless and will address Housemates with objectivity, although it is sensitive and empathetic in difficult times for Housemates. At all times, Big Brother's decisions are final.
Suitcases
Housemates have their suitcases delivered to them the day after they arrive, which contain their own clothes and personal items. Housemates are forbidden from taking reading material (even religious books), branded items (unless covered) and other contraband items into the House and will have their suitcases scrutinized by Big Brother before they are delivered. In the past they have been allowed one luxury item, including musical instruments and alcohol, but these have also been banned. Once suitcases have been unpacked, they are then taken away again. However in some instances Big Brother will not deliver suitcases as punishment for breaking the Rules, or may also use them as a reward for completing Tasks set by Big Brother.
Life in the House
Over the duration of the series, the Housemates are given a series of tasks by Big Brother which test them in many ways. They are also put to the test by their own ideals, prejudices and opinions against other people from different walks of life; something that has survived from the original "social experiment" of Big Brother 1. They live in the communal House and share cooking and cleaning chores among themselves, which usually provides plenty of tension. Housemates are forbidden to sleep during daylight hours - Big Brother plays the wake-up call persistently in the morning if housemates do not wake up and will play an alarm clock noise into the house if a housemate falls asleep during the day. Housemates must also live by the Fundamental Rules of Big Brother; if the rules are broken it can result in formal warnings, various punishments or even a Housemate's removal from the House.
The Diary Room
In the Diary Room, Housemates are allowed to privately tell Big Brother about their issues and worries about other Housemates, as well as ask Big Brother for items for the house. The Diary Room is also used by Big Brother when Big Brother needs to speak to individual Housemates alone for any reason. Some of the Housemates are comfortable enough in the Diary Room to discuss personal feelings, issues and even general personal business not relating to the house. The Diary Room is also the only room in the house not shown on Live Streaming, in order to protect the Housemates privacy. However some conversations in the Diary Room will appear in highlights shows, especially if they pertain to an event or situation within the house.
When Housemates request items such as cleaning materials, alcohol or extra cigarettes (at the discretion of Big Brother), they are either delivered via the Diary Room, the Store Room or a Delivery Hatch sometimes located in the main House. Instructions and items for tasks are also delivered via the Diary Room.
In the past, notably in Big Brother 5's 'Fight Night' and Big Brother 9's 'Fight Night II' it was necessary for Big Brother to use the Diary Room as a means of removing aggressive Housemates from potentially violent situations.
The Shopping
Each week Big Brother sets the Housemates a task in order to determine the shopping budget for the following week. They must work together to win the tasks in order to win a luxury shopping budget of £5 per head per day. If they lose, they will only receive a basic shopping budget of £1 per head per day. If all food runs out in the House, Big Brother provides Emergency Rations of chickpeas and rice. Housemates are responsible for their own shopping and decide which items the budget is bought. Only a small percentage of the overall budget can be spent on alcohol, and Big Brother delivers the alcohol separately in increments as a reward for tasks or a treat after Evictions - this rule was introduced after a number of violent altercations between drunken housemates in earlier series. Shopping is usually delivered on Thursday afternoon after the remainder of the previous week's food has been removed via the Store Room. Big Brother provides packed lunches for the interim period.
Nominations
Each week, usually on a Monday, the Housemates are individually called to the Diary Room by Big Brother in alphabetical order, where they must Nominate two fellow Housemates for Eviction privately.
They must provide full and frank reasons for Nominating their chosen Housemates and cannot Nominate themselves. Once all Housemates (or all Housemates eligible to Nominate) have Nominated, the two or more Housemates with the most Nominations are then put to the public vote, where the Housemate or Housemates with the most votes are Evicted in a live Friday night Eviction. The Nominations are not revealed to the Housemates by Big Brother until the day after the Nominations process, usually a Tuesday, when voting has already begun. On a Friday afternoon, Nominated Housemates have their suitcases delivered to them so they may pack in anticipation of the evening's Eviction.
Housemates are not allowed to discuss who they have Nominated or who they might Nominate with each other, and they are banned from discussing who might have Nominated the Housemates up for Eviction - unless given permission by Big Brother (as in Big Brother 9's Nominations Pod and also in Big Brother 10 (UK) after continuous rule breaking, housemates were allowed to talk about nominations). If a Housemate has broken any of the Fundamental Rules regarding Nominations, Big Brother will impose a punishment on the Housemate.
Live Eviction and Davina
On Eviction Night, Big Brother plays crowd noise into the House so that Housemates are unable to hear chanting from the real crowd waiting for the Evictee, protecting the concept of 'no contact with the Outside World'. Nominated Housemates are told by Davina the results of the public vote via live link to the speakers in the House from a quiet studio nearby. Davina will address the House in the following scripted speech;
"Big Brother House, this is Davina. You are live on Channel 4, please do not swear. (Nominated Housemates' names), the lines are closed, the votes have been counted and verified, and I can now reveal that the nthe person to be evicted from the Big Brother House is... (Evicted Housemate's name)"
The evicted housemate usually have 15 minutes to say their goodbyes and get ready to leave, while the first Live Eviction show goes off air for an interval programme. The on-air break is half an hour long giving the second Eviction show a 15 minute delay when it returns to air. When the Live Eviction show returns, Davina will then tell the Evicted Housemate that they have 30 seconds to leave the House, again addressing the House from the quiet studio;
"Big Brother House, this is Davina. You are live on Channel 4, please do not swear. (Evicted Housemate's name) you are the nteh person to be evicted from the Big Brother House. You have 30 seconds to say your goodbyes, I'm coming to get you!"
Once they leave the House they are greeted by the live crowd, which will boo or cheer according to the popularity of the Evicted Housemate. They will then be taken past a bank of photographers and then led away down the middle of the crowd to the nearby studio by Davina. There they are interviewed by Davina about their time in the House.
In unexpected twists that add to the appeal of the series, Big Brother will forego the prescribed Eviction format and will Evict Housemates in other ways. In the past Big Brother has asked Housemates to Evict their least favourite Nominated Housemate, or has Evicted Nominated Housemates through the Diary Room without other Housemates realising that an Eviction was taking place. Such twists in the format are more common towards the end of a series.
Live Final and the Winner
In the Live Final, only three to six Housemates remain in the house, after surviving numerous evictions. The public are then asked to vote for their favourite surviving Housemate to win the prize of £100,000 in the preceding week. Voting lines are suspended at intervals on the Live Final show to reveal the runners-up, who are then evicted and interviewed by Davina without the usual 15 minute delay, until the final two surviving Housemates, when the winner is announced. The first runner-up then leaves the House and is interviewed by Davina, followed by the winner who is usually treated to a cheering crowd and a firework display, before they are interviewed by Davina.
Schedule
Each highlight show features the events that happened in the previous day in the house. On the Live Eviction Shows, the housemates are evicted the same day as the results are shown, and the highlight show from the next day will often show their eviction again (without the interview.)
The highlights show was originally aired in an 11pm half-hour slot when Series One was launched before being moved to 10pm half-way through. The show retained this 10pm half-hour slot until it was extended to fifty minutes during Series Five and Six. Series Seven saw the launch of hour-long shows at 9pm. Since then the scheduling has been rather sporadic.
Each night's show is repeated the next morning on Channel 4, during their breakfast schedule. The morning show is a censored version of the previous days allowing for a younger audience base to be able to watch the show. The same show is repeated on E4 later in the day during the after-noon. Friday's LIVE episode is repeated Saturday mornings on Channel 4's Teen Strand T4 and then repeated Saturday evening on E4.
In the T4 and E4 repeats, Housemate entrances and exits are generally edited so that they go dark to light, and also they slow down some of the action. This however can cause severe ghosting in the T.V. picture. It's possible this is done to lower the risk of flashing cameras to people who sufferer from photosensitive epilepsy, even though Channel 4 does not broadcast with low brightness (although continuty warnings are usually announced).
Live streaming
Channel 4 has made available live pictures and audio from the Big Brother house. However, approximately a 15 minute delay is in place so that audio and/or pictures can be censored to comply with TV regulations. This is also obvious when Housemates discuss the time in the Big Brother House and when they have done so the time is commonly 15–20 minutes behind than the time of viewing.
The action from within the House used to be streamed live over the Internet for a one-off fee subscription that lasted to the end of the series, and for free to broadband customers of sponsors Virgin Media. However since Big Brother 9, the live internet streaming was axed due to small uptake of subscriptions in past series.
Since the second series, Channel 4's sister station E4 has also carried live pictures and audio from the Big Brother House. An interactive service available to digital satellite and cable viewers allows 24/7 access to the stream, even when E4 is carrying normal programming. Live streaming was cut during Big Brother 5's "Fight Night" when a House argument broke out in which the main culprit was ejected from the house for being aggressive. The same also occurred during Big Brother 9's "Fight Night II" in which the actions of most Housemates were similar to that of "Fight Night". This was also a House argument which resulted in one Housemate being ejected for spitting in another Housemate's face.
However, as live streaming on E4 was, as claimed by producers, 'unpopular' during Big Brother 9, for Celebrity Big Brother 2009 and Big Brother 10 2009 the red button live feed has been axed, along with the daytime streaming on E4 which is now limited to late night/early morning coverage. This has proven to be a rather controversial move, but despite fans petitioning for its return, Channel 4 have made it clear that the daytime live streaming will not be returning during Big Brother 10. It has been speculated that the axing of the daytime feed was a money-saving move on behalf of broadcaster Channel 4.
House
For the first two series, the House was located in Bow, London near to the Three Mills Studios. After planning permission expired in 2002, Newham Council ordered the complex to be returned to a natural habitat. The house has been located at Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire since Big Brother 3 in 2002.
The house is currently built behind the studios and is overlooked by the studio offices. The house has substantial security in place including fencing, security patrols and dog units to protect the premise of "no contact from the outside world". However people can shout to the housemates in the garden via a road located near the house, threatening that premise. Whenever such incidents occur, Big Brother will ban the housemates from using the garden and ensure that they are locked in the house to prevent them from hearing what is being shouted. It has been reported that the Big Brother house has higher and better levels of security than Buckingham Palace, after the lobbyist group Fathers 4 Justice gained entry to Buckingham Palace in 2004, but a similar effort to raid the Big Brother House was foiled days later.[citation needed]
The interior design of the House changes each year to suit the theme of the series. For example, the Big Brother 5 House was claustrophobic, with harsh colour schemes to reflect the Evil Big Brother theme, while Big Brother 8 had an "Inside Out" theme with kitchen appliances, washing facilities and dining areas located in the wrong rooms or areas of the House.
The house is situated just metres from The George Lucas Stage where the studio of spin off show, Big Brother's Little Brother is located, as well as the eviction studio where evicted housemates are interviewed.
Live Tasks
Series 3 of Big Brother introduced the Saturday night "Big Brother: Live Task", which would determine on which side of the Rich/Poor divide individual Housemates would live for the forthcoming week. The Live Tasks were continued throughout Big Brother 4, with winners treated to a hidden "Reward Room" for the evening. Live Saturday evening Tasks were discontinued during Series 5. In the penultimate week of Series 9 there was a live task. Housemates had to nominate face to face using cue cards. The two Housemates nominated then went on to play a game where they could win £60,000.
Logo
The Big Brother logo is an eye. However since Big Brother 2, every UK series has featured a different ‘Eye’ design created by Daniel Eatock. The first series had a human eye as the logo, and it was revealed during Melanie Hill's exit interview that it was her eye that was being used as the show's logo. The eye is meant to signify that Big Brother is ‘always watching’ and it in its own right has become iconic. Most of the other Big Brother series around the world have adopted the eye in their logo, with some countries adopting designs directly from the UK Big Brother. Since Big Brother 5 the title sequence created by Hello Charlie has left out the title "Big Brother" with the idea that the eye was iconic enough to identify the show.
Theme tune
Template:Sound sample box align right
The theme tune was written and produced by Element Four, a collaboration between Paul Oakenfold and Andy Gray. It was released as a single in September 2000 and peaked at number four in the UK Singles Chart. It is also used for the Bulgarian series. Two versions of the tune were used for the opening titles. The original tune was used from 2000 to 2003. A newer version of the tune is currently in use since 2004.
Aspect ratio
Series 1 to 6 of Big Brother (2000–2005), including the four corresponding series of Celebrity Big Brother, were some of the very few programmes on mainstream British terrestrial television that were broadcast in the old 4:3 aspect ratio as opposed to the more common 16:9 widescreen format. (Except the Big Brother Panto, which was in widescreen). The reason for this is unclear, perhaps because shots cannot be artificially staged to use a 16:9 format, the 16:9 format is more efficient as it can cover a wider range of shots, as opposed to the somewhat limited 4:3 full-screen format. However, from series 7 (2006) the aspect ratio has been switched in favour of the 16:9 format, with Big Brother, and all of its sister shows broadcasting in widescreen.
Media interest
Big Brother is highly publicised in the UK, more or less all leading tabloid newspapers and gossip magazines cover the series. The show has also made headlines on leading news channels such as BBC, ITV, Channel 4, CNN and Sky news. After leaving the house, housemates usually have short lived fame. Endemol gives housemates a choice of agents when leaving the House. Some have gone on to have their own reality TV shows, perfumes, DVDs, singles, columns and more. Some of them appear in magazines, newspapers, radio stations, and even television programmes. They often attend film premieres and other red carpet events. Though for most, their fame generally subsides shortly after the series finale. To date the most successful former Big Brother housemate is Jade Goody, who died in 2009. Other successful housemates include Brian Dowling who has landed a career in television presenting and voice over work, Kate Lawler who worked as a television presenter on high profile Channel 4 programme RI:SE and later a DJ, Chanelle Hayes who released her own single, launched her own fragrance, starred in another reality show and had 2008's third best selling calendar,[citation needed] and Alison Hammond who works as a presenter on ITV's This Morning.
Big Brother has also led to a variety of books being written about it including books about the show like Big Brother: The Inside Story By Narinder Kaur (ISBN 978-0753512944) and Big Brother: The Official Unseen Story By Jean Ritchie (ISBN 978-0752219127). There have also been books about the psychology of the show, like The Psychology of Big Brother By Dan Jones (ISBN 978-1409228257) and Visible Thought: The New Psychology of Body Language By Geoffrey Beattie (ISBN 978-0415308106).
Series details and viewership
| Series | Launch date | Finale date | Days | Housemates | Winner | Series average [3] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Brother 1 | 14 July 2000 | 15 September 2000 | 64 | 11 | Craig Phillips | 4.5 million |
| Celebrity Big Brother 1 | 9 March 2001 | 16 March 2001 | 8 | 6 | Jack Dee | 5.2 million |
| Big Brother 2 | 25 May 2001 | 27 July 2001 | 64 | 11 | Brian Dowling | 4.5 million |
| Big Brother 3 | 24 May 2002 | 26 July 2002 | 64 | 14 | Kate Lawler | 5.8 million |
| Celebrity Big Brother 2 | 20 November 2002 | 29 November 2002 | 10 | 6 | Mark Owen | 4.4 million |
| Big Brother 4 | 23 May 2003 | 25 July 2003 | 64 | 14 | Cameron Stout | 4.6 million |
| Teen Big Brother | 13 October 2003 | 17 October 2003 | 10 | 8 | Paul Brennan | N/A |
| Big Brother 5 | 28 May 2004 | 6 August 2004 | 71 | 13 | Nadia Almada | 5.1 million |
| Big Brother Panto | 20 December 2004 | 5 January 2005 | 11 | 10 | N/A | N/A |
| Celebrity Big Brother 3 | 6 January 2005 | 23 January 2005 | 18 | 9 | Bez | 4.3 million |
| Big Brother 6 | 27 May 2005 | 12 August 2005 | 78 | 16 | Anthony Hutton | 4.5 million |
| Celebrity Big Brother 4 | 5 January 2006 | 27 January 2006 | 23 | 11 | Chantelle Houghton | 4.9 million |
| Big Brother 7 | 18 May 2006 | 18 August 2006 | 93 | 22 | Pete Bennett | 4.7 million |
| Celebrity Big Brother 5 | 3 January 2007 | 28 January 2007 | 26 | 14 | Shilpa Shetty | 4.6 million |
| Big Brother 8 | 30 May 2007 | 31 August 2007 | 94 | 23 | Brian Belo | 3.9 million |
| Celebrity Hijack | 3 January 2008 | 28 January 2008 | 26 | 12 | John Loughton | 0.7 million |
| Big Brother 9 | 5 June 2008 | 5 September 2008 | 93 | 21 | Rachel Rice | 3.6 million |
| Celebrity Big Brother 6 | 2 January 2009 | 23 January 2009 | 22 | 11 | Ulrika Jonsson | 3.3 million |
| Big Brother 10 | 4 June 2009 | 4 September 2009 | 93 | 22 | Sophie Reade | 2.5 million |
Sponsorships
| Series | Sponsor | Slogan | Notes | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Brother 1 | Southern Comfort | 2000 | ||
| Celebrity Big Brother 1 | 2001 | |||
| Big Brother 2 | BT Cellnet | It's The Buzz | ||
| Big Brother 3 | O 2 |
Get Connected | See note 1 | 2002 |
| Celebrity Big Brother 2 | ||||
| Big Brother 4 | 2003 | |||
| Teen Big Brother | ||||
| Big Brother 5 | TalkTalk | Get Together | 2004 | |
| Big Brother Panto | 2004-05 | |||
| Celebrity Big Brother 3 | 2005 | |||
| Big Brother 6 | ||||
| Celebrity Big Brother 4 | The Carphone Warehouse | Get Star Treatment | See note 2 | 2006 |
| Big Brother 7 | Get Together | |||
| Celebrity Big Brother 5 | Get Star Treatment | See note 3 | 2007 | |
| Big Brother 8 | Virgin Media | For a Happy House | See note 4 | |
| Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack | Virgin Mobile | See note 5 | 2008 | |
| Big Brother 9 | ||||
| Celebrity Big Brother 6 | Dreams | Britain’s leading Bed Specialist | See note 6 | 2009 |
| Big Brother 10 | Lucozade Energy | Little Brother vs. Big Brother |
- Template:FnbBT Cellnet changed its name to O2, the sponsor is therefore the same as the previous series.
- Template:FnbThe Carphone Warehouse is the parent company of TalkTalk, the previous sponsor. They also had a deal of £2.5m-a-year to sponsor the Big Brother franchise.[4]
- Template:FnbDue to the race row the sponsorship was cut off half way through the series.
- Template:FnbThe cost of this sponsorship was £2.5 Million.
- Template:FnbAlthough the change of the name of the sponsor, it is still the same company and the same sponsor adverts were used.
- Template:FnbThe cost of this sponsorship was £800,000[5]
Shows
Spin-offs
Celebrity Big Brother
Originally created as a one-off tie-in series by Channel 4 in association with the BBC's Comic Relief charity telethon, Celebrity Big Brother is now a full spin-off of Big Brother UK, shown on Channel 4, S4C, E4, E4+1 and Internet live streaming and downloading, backed up with email and SMS text news reports to subscribers. The series typically airs in January.
The series features a number of celebrity contestants living in the Big Brother House, trying to avoid eviction by the public with the aim of winning a large cash prize to be donated to the winner's nominated charity at the end of the run. The show uses the same house and presenters as the non-celebrity version of the most recent series, but the time length is shorter than a normal Big Brother UK series. The celebrities are normally paid for their appearances, on the proviso that they don't voluntarily leave.
The first Celebrity Big Brother was aired nightly on Channel 4 with the finale broadcast live on BBC One on Comic Relief night in 2001. Subsequent Celebrity Big Brothers have not involved the BBC or Comic Relief in any way, and the charities involved are given far less publicity than in the first series.
The series took a break for Teen Big Brother, which was shown in 2003 and given a revised repeat in 2004, between 2005 and 2007 it was a regular part of Channel 4's winter schedule until in 2008 it was withdrawn due to the previous series' race row and replaced by Celebrity Hijack, the series then returned in 2009 until 2010 due to the shows axing.
Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack
Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack was a spin off series that aired on E4 in January 2008. It was hosted by Dermot O'Leary,[6] which was his final Big Brother series, and narrated by Marcus Bentley.[7] Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack launched on 3 January both on Channel 4 and E4. After the launch, all Big Brother programmes are only aired on E4. The series was a twist on the Celebrity Big Brother format. Instead of the celebrities playing the role of Housemates, the celebrities become Big Brother itself. The housemates of the show are 18 to 21 year olds.
Teen Big Brother
Teen Big Brother was a special version of Big Brother, where eight 18 year olds lived in the Big Brother House for ten days. The series was aired in October 2003 on Channel 4 and E4 where it was presented by BBLB host Dermot O'Leary and narrated by Marcus Bentley.
Unlike all other Big Brother series, Teen Big Brother was pre-recorded and shown some months after the contestants had left the house. During the series' broadcast, it was involved in a scandal over two of the Housemates having sex on television.
Big Brother Panto
E4 and T4 broadcast the special Big Brother Panto' series, bringing together ten members of the various Big Brother series to perform a pantomime of Cinderella. It was presented by Jeff Brazier and June Sarpong and narrated by Marcus Bentley. It was aired from 20 December 2004 to 5 January 2005.
Spoofs, parodies and cultural references
In the UK, Big Brother has been satirised and spoofed by many comedians including Alan Carr, Justin Lee Collins and Ricky Gervais. Big Brother has also been lampooned on programmes such as The Friday Night Project, the Doctor Who episode "Bad Wolf", and Extras.
In July 2008 Revels started a Big Brother-style eviction campaign where one flavour from the bag would be replaced by a special limited edition flavour, yet to be announced. Consumers were asked to nominate on www.revelseviction.com. Voting closed on 9 September 2008. The flavour attracting the most votes was coffee, which received nearly half the votes cast. Raisin received around 25%, with the remaining votes spread fairly evenly among the other flavours. The coffee flavour was replaced with strawberry.
Dead Set
In October 2008, E4 aired Dead Set, a five-part horror series written by Charlie Brooker, and set during a fictional series of Big Brother. It features a zombie outbreak decimating the population of Britain, forcing the housemates and some of the production staff to seek shelter in the Big Brother House, which has seemingly become one of the only safe places left in Britain. The show features a selection of previous Big Brother housemates and host Davina McCall playing themselves. A few of the cast, including McCall, also played cameos as zombies.[8]
Controversy and criticism
Since its beginning in 2000, Big Brother has been the subject of controversy and criticism among the British public and media. There have been various investigations by numerous organisations, including TV watchdogs and the police.
Awards and nominations
Cancellation by Channel 4
On 26 August 2009 it was announced by Channel 4 that a final series of Celebrity Big Brother (Series 7) will be broadcast in January 2010 and that Big Brother 2010 (Series 11), highly likely to start in June 2010, will be the last to be aired on Channel 4. It was thought this was due to a steep fall in viewer ratings although Channel 4 never confirmed this. They said that Big Brother had been one of the most revolutionary programmes of the last decade but had reached its natural ending point.[9]
Footnotes
- ^ C21Media:
- ^ http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Showbiz-News/Big-Brother-To-Be-Axed-After-One-More-Series-Channel-4-Confirms/Article/200908415368877?lpos=Showbiz_News_Carousel_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15368877_Big_Brother_To_Be_Axed_After_One_More_Series%2C_Channel_4_Confirms
- ^ http://www.insidebigbrother.net/ratings.ibb
- ^ http://www.channel4sales.com/news/bed+firm+dreams+sponsors+celebrity+big+brother/31
- ^ http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article5309302.ece
- ^ "Very exciting Big Brother news". Heatworld.com. 2007-10-22. Retrieved 2007-10-22.
- ^ News Flash: Dermot's quitting Big Brother's Little Brother!
- ^ "Dead Set". E4. E4 (channel). 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
- ^ http://www.channel4.com/bigbrother/blog/1cb7f90441460bc8cde9b77cb6395906/view.c4
See also
External links
- Big Brother at Channel4.com
- Big Brother at IMDb
- Big Brother on X
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