[Kaz]

Story from Ananova today:

Big Brother's Helen and Paul to get the Alistair McGowan treatment

Alistair McGowan and sidekick Ronni Ancona are to impersonate Big Brother's Paul and Helen for his Big Impression Christmas special. Paul and Helen's budding romance captivated TV viewers earlier this year.

McGowan's Xmas special will be screened on December 23 at 8.50pm on BBC1.

Scenes include Helen discussing her housemates' demands for her to eat with her mouth shut. Helen says: "If you eat with your mouth closed then how are you supposed to get the knife in with all the food on." Paul replies: "Yeah, H. Totally. We've totally worked it out, knowworramean?"

But McGowan told Heat magazine that Paul and Helen were far from being his favourites on the show. "Of all the people in the house I liked them least. "I just found them completely ill-mannered. Their table manners and the way they kept shouting about everything just really annoyed me."

Other new characters include Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, the cast of Friends, Nigella Lawson and a spoof of Pop Idol with Vanessa Feltz as a contestant.

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Hmmmm.......don't know if I'm looking forward to this or not. Sounds like he's going to be a bit cruel to our favourite lovebirds. Don't think they'll mind, though - one of their most endearing qualities is their ability to laugh at themselves, isn't it?

Must have changed his mind about their popularity, eh? I seem to recall discussion a while ago that he didn't think enough people would recognise who they were.

Some of the other new characters look quite promising - I can just see 'Vanessa' being torn to shreds by 'Simon Cowell'.