Richard Desmond's station takes over reality show, which ran for 10 years on C4 and will still be made by Endemol
People can't do anything to change the dates written on their gravestones, but TV programmes sometimes can. Just over six months after the media mourned – or cheered – the death of Channel 4's Big Brother (2000-2010), the housemate elimination show has been resurrected. Richard Desmond's Channel 5 has announced a two-year deal to lock up more young people with a desire for fame or notoriety and set them a series of challenges.
Ever since Davina McCall said her final goodbye last September, it has been assumed that the shouty house would find a new home, with the next number along on the terrestrial spectrum always seeming the most likely destination. The series will still be made by the UK branch of Endemol, the Dutch company that had the internationally lucrative idea of merging a sitcom plot – tense flatmates – with a gameshow format.
The announcement of a celebrity edition this summer followed by a wannabe-celebrity run later in the year suggests that the revival will retain the broad structures established by Channel 4. The new landlord has also indicated that the hysterical residence will continue to be situated in Elstree, Hertfordshire, which may be a blow to hopes for property prices in the area. But, beyond a statement from the network's director of programming, Jeff Ford, about bringing "energy, optimism and vibrancy" to the show, there are no clues yet to possible changes of content.
Certainly, the factors that led the original British broadcaster to cancel the commission – a tiring franchise that was becoming increasingly sexualised and verbally violent – seem unlikely to bother Desmond, whose media portfolio includes the adult entertainment channels Television X and Red Hot TV.
Critics who felt that the first British version of the format had already lowered broadcasting standards, with scenes of racial bullying and sexual congress with a bottle, will fear that such moments may come to seem highbrow peaks in comparison with Desmond's version. The purchase makes sense for a man whose business holdings include Express Newspapers because of the close connection between the programmes and tabloids. Channel 4 provided many headlines for The Sun and Mirror, but Desmond will be able to circulate scoops about admissions and evictions within his empire, although there is scepticism in showbusiness about the recent claim in his Star newspaper that Cheryl Cole will replace McCall, who has always indicated that her retirement from the show was final, as hostess.
So Big Brother now joins the select set of programmes to have run on two UK networks: others include Men Behaving Badly and This is Your Life, which both moved from ITV to BBC1.
Fans of the show – and there was a hardcore of more than 2 million viewers throughout even the exhausted final series – and possibly some executives at Endemol may argue that Five's enthusiasm proves Channel 4 was wrong, but the current needs of the networks are quite different. The Big Brother house's first address has a business plan that demands refreshed schedules and improved reputation; its second needs publicity and products with established recognition. So it was right for one network to drop it and the other to pick it up.