Big Brother (Euro Republics)

Big Brother (also known as Big Brother Euro Republics, Big Brother ER or BBER) is the Euroish version of the international reality television franchise Big Brother created by producer John de Mol in 1997. It is shown on TV4 every evening, and with the live launches, evictions and finals simulcast on it and parent network TV3. It began airing on 13th February 2000. Big Brother was one of the channel's first HD programmes.

History
The idea for the show is said to come during a brainstorm session at the production house of John de Mol Produkties (an independent part of Endemol) on 4 September 1997. The first Big Brother broadcast was in the Netherlands in 1999 on the Veronica TV channel. Since then it has been a prime-time hit in almost 70 countries.

The show's name comes from George Orwell's 1948 dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.

The Euro Republics was one of the first countries to pick up the Big Brother format, being commissioned by Channel 4 in mid-1999, before the series had even debuted in it's native Netherlands.

The original incarnation of Big Brother ran for 10 series between 2000 and 2009. It was moved to TV3 in 2004 as part of the network's attempt to court a younger female audience.

Return
During the final of the Euroish version of Love Island on 30th August, 2021, FOX broadcast a 15-second teaser which featured the network logo become the Big Brother eye with a remix of the theme music, ending on a black background teasing the return of Big Brother in 2022.

Big Brother returned to Euroish television on 23rd September, 2022. It had initally been intended to relaunch on 16th September, 2022, but was postponed for a week due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Format
Big Brother is a game show in which a group of contestants, referred to as housemates, live in isolation from the outside world in a custom built "house", constantly under video surveillance. During their time in the house, the housemates are required to nominate two of their fellow contestants for potential eviction, and the two or more with the most votes would be nominated. This process is mandatory for all housemates, and failure to comply could result in expulsion from the house. The viewers can vote to evict one of the nominated housemates, and the housemate with the most votes is removed from the house. Housemates can be ejected from the house if any particularly offensive, hateful or violent activity occurs, and they are also at liberty to leave the house at any time they wish.

Broadcast
During the premiere series, the show aired five nights a week, Monday to Friday, in the 8pm time slot. The launch show aired on a Sunday whilst the eviction episodes and final aired on Fridays; after series presenter Steve Wilkinson announced the evictee, they had two hours to pack their belongings and exit the house during a second episode airing that night. The remaining four weekly shows were highlight episodes, which lasted 60 minutes in length. The second series aired six nights a week during the premiere week, though was reduced to only five days afterward, not airing on Saturday or Sunday. This series featured two eviction episodes as well, though only featured a ninety-minute gap between the two.

Big Brother 3 was the first series to air every night each week, and every series thereafter featured only sixty minutes between eviction episodes. The third series was the first in the main series to feature a live launch, with all subsequent series featuring a live launch. The Friday night editions became split between an 8pm highlights show and the eviction at 10pm.

Big Brother's main highlights show was reduced to six nights a week effective from BB5 onwards, to avoid clashing with the broadcast of Super Saturday on TV3, to make way for the launch of the companion show Saturday Night Live on ZTV.

Big Brother 7 included a major change to the broadcast schedule of Big Brother. It was now aired at 9pm five nights a week, with the highlights from Monday to Thursday for one hour, and the Friday eviction for 90 minutes. The daily show now incorporated elements from the axed Uncut, being moved to the later slot and including raunchier content and conversations that weren't allowed to play out at 8pm. It was also moved from a PG rating to an M rating.

When the series premiered in January 2000, it was aired in a 4:3 aspect ratio instead of the more common 16:9 widescreen format seen by other series at the time. Beginning in BB3 in 2002, the show was broadcast in the 16:9 format. Upon it's move to TV3 in 2007, it became fully HD, with the live launch, evictions and final broadcast in high definition since 2004.

Aside from the main series, the show featured a live feed into the house where viewers could watch the housemates at any time. With the series debut in 2000, the twenty-four-hour live feed was introduced which was available at any time to viewers for free. The live feed featured an estimated ten-minute delay to comply with broadcasting standards. Beginning with the second series, the live feed became a broadcast feature as well on Channel 4 in daytime and overnight hours as well as during the mornings and early evenings on Spark.

Numerous spin-off series have aired either immediately after or shortly following both the highlight episodes and the live episodes. Big Brother's Big Mouth, airs following the highlight shows. The show was initially presented by Rich Mills from 2003 to 2010, and by Eddie Cole from 2022 onwards. From BB4 to BB9 there were no weekly tasks, and the housemates instead participated in tasks during the Saturday Night Live weekly show.

The opening theme for BB1 was the same as heard on the first series of the original Dutch version. An English-language cover of "Leef" by Han van Eijk, titled "Live" was recorded by The Collinson Brothers was used in the end credits and released on 14 June 2000 following the success of the first series. The single proved to be successful, reaching number 2 in the Euroish Singles Chart. The second series dropped the original variation in favour of an EDM-inspired remix of the original tune - also used on the Australian version in the same year, reportedly inspired by "Elementfour", the theme from the British version of Big Brother. This version proved to inspire the rest of the theme's remixes and variations.

BB4's third Friday eviction show introduced another remix of the theme, featuring a higher BPM and a more heavy trance style. BB7 introduced yet another remix of the theme, with a more guitar oriented approach. BB9 saw a major overhaul of the theme, with the dance style dropped in favour of an indie rock approach to the theme, although this was unsuccessful, and a remix between the BB2 and BB4 theme was used for BB10, the final series before Big Brother went on a 12-year hiatus, whilst "Live" was resurrected in the ending credits.

BB11's theme tune is a remix which includes the BB2 and BB4 themes, alongside the BB7 theme and some new elements.

Launch show
The launch show is a live, 90-minute edition, introducing the new Big Brother housemates of the year, as they enter the Big Brother house,

Daily edition
The daily edition of Big Brother currently airs for 60 minutes from Sunday to Thursday, at 8pm. Narrated by Jimmy Diamond, it charts the daily events from within the Big Brother house. This edition simply carries the Big Brother title.

From BB1 to BB6, the daily show was aired at 8pm for 30 minutes, and from BB7 to BB10, the daily edition was aired at 9pm in an hour-long timeslot.

Eviction show
From BB1 to BB6 and again from BB11 onwards, the eviction has aired at 10pm on Friday evenings in a 60-minute slot. From BB7 to BB10, it was aired at 9pm and aired for 90 minutes.

Big Brother's Little Brother
Big Brother's Little Brother (also known as BBLB) is a magazine television programme that has aired since the second series of the show, running in conjunction with each series of Big Brother, which runs seven nights a week. It was presented by Jack Greene on weekdays and Charlotte Jackson on weekends until February 2008, then by George Jackson from September 2008 – January 2010, and was shown at 6.00pm from BB2 to BB6, before moving to 7.30pm from BB7 onwards following The Latest to accommodate a children's programme slot on ZTV.

When BB11 debuted in 2022, Big Brother's Little Brother returned with Ian Knetter and Olivia Warbuton. Knetter presents Sunday, Tuesday and Thursdays, Warbuton on Saturday, Monday and Wednesday with the two sharing the Friday pre-eviction edition. It airs at 7.00pm on Five.

The programme looks at Big Brother-related activities outside the House and features interviews with celebrities, journalists and friends and family of housemates, and sometimes recently evicted housemates. It also gives updates to events in the House, including announcing on Mondays who is up for eviction. The show is filmed in Studio 4 in Television Centre, which is only a short walk from the main house itself.

Between 6 September and 25 October 2008, Willow Collins was a co-presenter, but she was soon removed.

The programme continued to be broadcast on TV4 even following the main show's transfer to TV3 from BB8.

Saturday Night Live
Introduced in January 2004 at the start of BB5, Saturday Night Live aired for 90 minutes from 9pm on ZTV, presented by Jimmy Diamond and BB4 winner Claudia Olberman. Saturday Night Live showcases a live housemate games competition conducted in an arena attached to the Big Brother compound every Friday evening.

Saturday Night Live remained for the rest of BB's original run, making a comeback for BB11 returning to it's 9pm slot on TV4, with Jimmy Diamond returning as host, alongside Steve Wilkinson, making a return to Big Brother.

Big Brother's Big Mouth
Big Brother's Big Mouth was introduced with Big Brother 4 and was hosted by originally presented by Rich Mills. The first series of the show was broadcast at 8:30 pm on Spark before being moved to a post-watershed slot, immediately after the Channel 4/ZTV/TV3 highlights show, where it has since remained. A studio audience of Big Brother fans and two celebrity guests discuss the latest happenings in the Big Brother House, while viewers are able to contribute via phone, e-mail, text polls, or by leaving a message on the 24-hour "Mouthpiece" rant line.

The programme continued to be broadcast on TV4 even following the main show's transfer to TV3 from BB8. Since the return of Big Brother in 2022, it has been broadcast on Five.

Big Brother Uncut
Big Brother Uncut was a weekly 75-minute show, broadcast at 10.30pm on Sunday evenings beginning in BB2, aimed at a more mature demographic. This mainly consisted of footage of the housemates showering, general risque behaviour, and discussions about sexual matters. It also included discussions and confessions from housemates considered too sensitive, offensive or upsetting to broadcast on the daily show, and full footage of housemates from inside the diary room, which was usually edited for time on the daily show. There was also conversations featuring expletives considered too strong for the daily show - which was limited only to mild swears.

A panel of studio guests and psychologists were also invited to the studio to discuss the week's events and the housemates' behaviour and actions in a more forensic and in-depth detail than the daily show would be able to cover.

Uncut was presented by Steve Wilkinson, and lasted until BB6. It was announced in May 2007 that Uncut would not return for BB7, in favour of a raunchier 60-minute version of the daily show to be aired at 9pm.

International broadcast
The Euroish version of Big Brother has been screened in the UK. BB4 and BB5 were broadcast on E4 on a one-day delay from the Euroish broadcast, enabling British and Irish viewers to be able to vote for the outcome of the housemates. BB6 was dropped from E4 to prevent a scheduling clash with the 2005 UK series of Celebrity Big Brother.

ITV acquired the UK rights to the Big Brother format in August 2022, and also purchased the rights to broadcast the Euroish version on ITVBe. BBER11 premiered on ITVBe on 14th November 2022, and BBER12 will broadcast on ITVBe in January 2024. Big Brother's Little Brother and Big Brother's Big Mouth are also streamable on ITVX.