[Amy]

WHEN Jim Carrey played the role of salesman Truman Burbank living in a city whose every movement was broadcast to the world, the voyeuristic concept was just a fictional notion. Now a German television company looks set to turn the idea into something nearer reality.

Taking an entire community and building on the theme of television’s Big Brother, residents would be 24-hour exhibits in a programme intended to run for years in an echo of the Hollywood film The Truman Show.

In the film, unassuming Truman Burbank grows up in a city that is a vast studio without knowing that his every action is broadcast to the outside world in a soap opera without limits.

Germany’s RTL 2 has ideas not quite so ambitious - but nearly. It is planning a Big Brother community, built from scratch along the lines of a theme park. Contestants will live there and fans of the show will be able to visit to see the residents.

The location is being kept secret, but it is understood to be in central Germany. It is planned to start screening the show next March.

A spokesman for RTL 2 confirmed: "Yes, we are planning to take the series in this direction."

Insiders say that at first the show will be broadcast 24 hours a day on the internet, with highlights screened in an evening show seven days a week. If viewer interest is strong, the broadcasts may go live for hours on end, possibly around the clock.

The ambitious project will seek dozens, if not hundreds, of contestants, but will follow a central tenet of the existing Big Brother: sex, difficult situations and the power for viewers to boot out those they don’t like.

RTL insiders and media reports say about £5 million will be budgeted for the set of dwellings, built around a central location much like the BBC’s Albert Square in EastEnders. The idea is for modular housing that is cheap, linked up to central power and heating, so units can be added or subtracted as the show demands.

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