Big Brother Confirmed For Channel 5 Return

Channel 5 has signed a deal to air Endemol reality show Big Brother later this year, it has been revealed.

The hit show, which launched the careers of Jade Goody, Kate Lawler and 'Nasty' Nick Bateman, was dropped by Channel 4 last year after a decade on air and 11 series. The programme also spawned a number of hit spinoffs and sister shows such as Big Brother's Little Brother and Celebrity Big Brother.

A full confirmation of the programme's return details is expected to be announced tomorrow. However, according to The Guardian, the deal will apparently last five years and a Celebrity edition is expected to begin in August. A traditional non-celebrity edition will follow in September.

Richard Desmond's Channel 5 has been linked to Big Brother since last summer when it concluded on Channel 4. Negotiations between the broadcaster and producers Endemol have broken down on several occasions, but they have now finally reached an agreement.

A report in the Desmond-owned Daily Star earlier this month suggested that stars such as Charlie Sheen, Mohammed al-Fayed and Amy Childs would be approached to take part in the first Celebrity series on the channel.

Davina McCall, who hosted every series on Channel 4, previously ruled herself out of presenting the show again. Vanessa Feltz, Brian Dowling, Jeff Brazier and Emma Willis are the early bookmakers' favourites to land the job.

Steve says:
Why a Big Brother story here? Because in my opinion Big Brother is the ultimate modern soap opera and I predicted a year ago it wouldn't be long before it returned to our screens, being too much of a 'hot potato' for any sane TV exec to leave dormant for too long.

And the magic of Big Brother? Real, complex characters that over time you begin to care about and empathize with, both heroes and villains. Bucketfuls of humour, and an accessible setting with every day trivial dramas that everyone can relate to. Forget convoluted salacious baby swap plots to grab your attention; in this soap someone peeing on a toilet seat can create a drama that escalates and escalates.

(The death of Brookside was due to the emergence of Big Brother in my opinion. Compared to the reality of the drama in the BB house, the ridiculous and dull plots of Brookside Close in later years made it a no brainer to finally give the Liverpool soap its long overdue axe in 2003.)