[LEE]

BIG BROTHER RETURNS TO ITS ROOTS


BIG BROTHER – Channel 4’s annual summer event – is back for a fourth series at the end of May, with 12 new people to become engrossed with, and a new-look house. This year, Big Brother is returning to its roots. There will be no bars or rich/poor house; just the pure, original reality format of 12 people living together in a community, cut off from the outside world for nine weeks and getting voted out as the weeks progress. As always, viewers decide the outcome of who stays or goes but what happens inside the house is always totally unpredictable… and completely compelling.

2003 also sees the return of the weekly task, where housemates have to work together as a team on a task that will determine their weekly food budget. The stakes will be high, since the group will be required to place a minimum 50% bet on the outcome. In addition, the housemates will still take part in a live challenge each Saturday night. And of course, Big Brother will also have plenty of surprises up its sleeve to stun or delight the housemates!

The Big Brother house, which the six men and six women will call home during the 64-day run, has been completely redesigned. Much of the house is open-plan and has been designed to be simple and uncluttered. This year the Hertfordshire house also features an outdoor sheltered area for the housemates to enjoy in all weather conditions.

While the Big Brother cameras watch the participants’ every move, viewers can also follow all aspects of their experience with daily coverage on Channel 4 and E4. For the first time, Channel 4 will play host to Big Brother’s Little Brother, the must-see fanzine show hosted by Dermot O’Leary. Plus there will be the regular weekday half-hour highlight shows, the hour-long psychology show on Sundays and the Saturday night live show. And, as all devotees know, the most important day of the Big Brother week is Friday - and no summer Friday would be complete without Davina McCall hosting the two Friday eviction shows. Davina will also host the live final at the end of the series, when the winning housemate receives their £70,000 prize.

E4 remains the place to catch all the action first with around the clock streaming direct from the house, seven days a week. This year E4 will also feature Nominations Uncut, a weekly nominations show where E4 viewers will be the first to see exclusive diary room footage of housemates discussing their reasons for nomination.

Big Brother is television’s premier multi-media event and viewers can follow all the house drama 24/7 not only through their TV sets but also through the website, interactive TV and a range of telephone services. The Big Brother website remains one of the most popular sites in Europe and its 24 hour newsroom will ensure fans can always keep up with the latest developments. Viewers can log on to catch all the action via web streaming, and this year will be able to vote for who they want to evict online, where they can also access video clips, email alerts and chat forums.

Digital TV viewers on E4 can once again access the Big Brother interactive TV service. As well as being able to vote in the eviction polls via their TV remote controls, the service also carries a choice of streams with live house action, news updates, video highlights and a range of games.

O2, a leading provider of mobile services in Europe, is the exclusive broadcast sponsor for the fourth series of Big Brother across all C4 and E4 programmes, as well as the internet. Channel 4 and O2 have teamed up to provide a range of mobile phone services, which this year includes picture messaging and text alerts. Mobile phone services also offer the chance to vote in the evictions via text message, as well as logos, ringtones and mobile games.

Gigi Eligoloff, Executive Producer of Big Brother said:
“This year, the absolute essence of the show is the people and their existence, cutting individuals off from society and getting them to live together as a community. Big Brother is all about character and personality and this year’s focus should allow people the scope to reveal who they really are.The human capacity to surprise is what makes the series so compelling, and of course Big Brother always has some surprises of its own. All this and an all-important game to play – just what will people do for £70,000 and what tactics, if any, will they employ to stay?”

Julian Bellamy, Head of Factual Entertainment at Channel 4 said:
“Every summer, Big Brother re-invents itself before our eyes and becomes a fresh and exciting TV event all over again. Together with our partners Endemol UK and O2, our aim is to make this year’s Big Brother as entertaining, unpredictable and addictive as ever.”

Big Brother is an Endemol UK Production for Channel 4 and E4.

[Amy]

IT JUST GETS BETTER !!!

This sounds excellent I like the fact you can see the diary room too on E4 What a great show this sounds like it's going to be

And great news about the weekly task returning too

[Stu xxx]

And great news about the weekly task returning too

Too right but i'm really pleased they have kept the saturday night task x

[Maggie]

It also sounds like thier bringing back the interactive live screens, which I missed last year, they picked what was shown again last year,which really spoilt it for me.
Were on BB2 I got loads of footage I would'nt have seen by going back 2 or 4 hours ie paul's last 1 1/2 hours in the house and loads of P & H lovely stuff I'd have missed because the main screen was on someone else, some back to basics is great can't wait, time to buy some tapes I think

[mcginn]

Great news about the satudays live tasks, just hope the tasks are alot better than last years

[BigSister]

This sounds great
Im really looking forward to the live saturday tasks and the weekly tasks maybe they have been listening to us

[Kaz]

Phew!!!

After the initial excitement of reading all this BB4 information, I realised that I had completely forgotten my manners . . . .

So a big THANK YOU!!! to LEE for posting it all up.

BB4 . . . . . . . . . . can't wait!!!

[Sticks]

Returning to its roots huh!

Does this mean that someone high up got fed up with all the complaints and ticked off the underlings

The jury is still out, but I still have a tough time trusting Endemol / C4 to play fair.

[splodge0]

SUCH A SENSE OF RELIEF!!!!!

I'm getting a warm glow.............

Hope you are all here tooX X X X X X

And I AM watching you Boris!!

[Boris]

ooooh, GOODY GOODY !


Warm 'cuddlies' are better that 'cold pricklies ' any time !!