Special Report: Channel 4 axes Big Brother
Channel 4 announced on Wednesday that the reality television show Big Brother is to be axed after the eleventh series, which will be in 2010. The announcement comes just over a week until the current tenth series finishes after a 13 week stint.
Big Brother 10 has proved to be a ratings disaster compared to previous Big Brothers. Despite this, the show has held average ratings between 1.9m – 2.2million viewers. During this summer, Big Brother has still remained one of the top Channel 4 shows.
Many fans were outraged earlier in the year after the decision to axe the 24 hour live feed. The 24 hour feed is an essential part of the show, but producers claimed that the ratings for the live coverage did not justify them continuing it this year. The Channel 4 Big Brother website announced that it would contain more content to make up for the loss of the live feed, but this proved disappointing as news was rarely updated, especially at weekends. The new twitter service was also abysmal, mostly relaying what was on the Channel 4 website. The decision to axe Big Brother will free up 200 hours of peak time across Channel 4 and E4.
“Big Brother is still profitable for Channel 4 despite its reduced popularity and there could have been the option to renew it on more favourable terms. That’s what a purely commercial broadcaster would have done, but Channel 4 has a public remit to champion new forms of creativity. That remit to push the boundaries has been an essential part of the weird chemistry behind Big Brother’s success, but it’s now what is telling us that the programme has reached a natural end point on Channel 4 and it’s time to move on.” – Kevin Lygo, Direction of Television and Content
Channel 4 admit that they now have a big whole to fill in the schedules for 2011, and work was already beginning on ideas for new shows. They have admitted that the show was still profitable, despite the lower than average ratings. It is hoped that the programme will be picked up from a rival broadcaster, namely Five and Sky One.
Big Brother has been part of Channel 4 since 2000 and quickly established itself as a television summer event. There was scandal from the beginning when contestant Nick Bateman was caught out by fellow housemates in trying to influence nominations, which is against the rules. In 2002, series 3 hit a record high as millions tuned in to see Kate Lawler win, and was the birth year of Jade Goody’s career in the limelight.
The fourth series, while it did ok in the ratings was panned by critics and fans as being boring. The firth series in 2004 came back with vengeance, announcing an evil side to Big Brother. Just weeks in, a brawl erupted with the live feed being cut and the police being called by viewers. It was not until the celebrity version in 2007 that Big Brother days were numbers. The racism row caused an international outcry and Big Brother being seen as a lost cause. The past three series have never lived up to the previous before the row.
Big Brother 10 concludes Friday 4th September 2009.
