[Amy]

SIR Paul McCartney has lashed out at Big Brother. "I am against the celebration of mediocrity," sneers Macca.

What, no chance of Wings reforming then?

After that ugly racism row, the orthodox reaction to Big Brother is now a knee-jerk sneer. Even Lord David Puttnam, the deputy chairman of Channel 4, greeted the new series by kicking it in the goolies.

"I am not proud of the Big Brother row," says Puttnam. "I am not even proud of Big Brother. But it accounts for 15 per cent of the total revenue that keeps Channel 4 afloat."

And there's the rub.

Jade Goody and the other wicked witches may have faded into obscurity but Big Brother is back and remains the most talked about show on British television. Saying that BB is made by cynics and watched by morons is just not good enough. The new series is clearly touched by genius. To fill a house with women and then toss a smouldering, ex-boy band hunk into the mix is great television.

There is nothing dumb about the new Big Brother - apart from the twins, obviously. After the grotesque scenes of the last series - and frankly only Davina's McCall's granny could have complained if the show had been axed - this is what Big Brother does best.

Displaying human nature in cruel, unforgiving, hilarious close-up.

The moment that new boy Ziggy walked into a house stuffed to the rafters with women was gripping stuff. If this was dumb telly then all telly should be this stupid.

Ziggy's entrance was up there with David Attenborough squatting with the apes. It was in the same league as the Sex Pistols swearing at Bill Grundy. It was the funeral of Churchill and David Bowie on Top Of The Pops and Simon fitting his phallic trampoline legs on The Apprentice rolled into one.

The hormones were going wild. The girls hugged and squealed and could not believe their luck. But of course Ziggy cannot and will not love all of them. Already it seems that he has found his object of desire - Chanelle.

How will that go down with Emily, the wannabe actress? Or Charley, the wannabe Wag? Or the twins? Or lovely fat Laura - who is clearly the nicest of them all?

Big Brother has pulled its socks up. BB has remembered to be inventive, inspired - and to let human nature take its course. The show is always best when it has an organic feel - too much manipulation makes it seem forced, and false, and cruel.

The great thing about Ziggy is that he has already achieved many of the wildest dreams of previous contestants. He has done a bit of modelling, been in a band that no one has heard of. He is more at ease with himself than many of the BB saddoes of the past.

It seems to me that, on the far side of the Shilpa Shetty controversy, Big Brother has recovered its humanity. It is always tempting to dismiss the cast as dippy airheads whose ambition far exceeds their talents.

At first, Posh-lookalike Chanelle Hayes seemed a laughable lightweight bit of fluff. You'd have to have had a heart of stone not to chuckle when she said she wanted to be either rich and famous, "Or a speech therapist in Spain".

But yesterday the Sunday Mirror revealed that Chanelle's background is a modern horror story.

Her mother was a crack-addicted hooker and Chanelle was born in Styal jail. Her mum was murdered and mutilated when Chanelle was six months old. And the killer will be released as Big Brother nears its climax.

Now, you could make it up but you would need to be Charles Dickens to do so. How could anyone with a soul not care about this girl?

Already I hope she marries Ziggy and sets up a thriving speech therapy business on the outskirts of Madrid.

The sneering at Big Brother will continue but it will be the most talked about TV show of the year. It deserves every bit of its success.

And come to think of it, what have Paul McCartney and David Puttnam done lately?

Article Daily Mirror