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By John McCarthy, Opinion Editor

August 1, 2022 | 3 min read

As its hit show Love Island comes to a close, ITV has announced that it will bring Big Brother back to screens after a five year hiatus.

After daliances with other UK commercial broadcasters, Big Brother will return to ITV2 and ITVX from 2023. It's a much needed original for ITV's fledgling subscription service and one that could help further engage Love Island's crucial youth audience.

ITV announced that it has already "carefully selected" housemates "from all walks of life" for a six-week series with cameras set to capture their every move. The series is being produced by Initial (part of Banijay UK), which first created the show back in 2000.

Paul Mortimer, director of reality commissioning and acquisitions and controller, ITV2, ITVBe & CITV, and Peter Tierney, commissioning editor have steered the return.

Mortimer said: "This refreshed, contemporary new series of Big Brother will contain all the familiar format points that kept viewers engaged and entertained the first time round, but with a brand new look and some additional twists that speak to today’s audience. We’re beyond excited to bring this iconic series to ITV2 and ITVX where it should especially engage with our younger viewers.”

Natalka Znak, CEO of Initial, Remarkable Entertainment and Znak TV added: “Big Brother is the original and best reality format and one that I have never made before so it’s a huge privilege to be making an all-new version with ITV2 and ITVX.

Though commercial partners have yet to be announced, one difficulty for ITV will be in ensuring brand safety of the show which has attracted criticism in the past. Celebrity Big Brother 2018, for example, was the most complained show on screens that year.

Since Big Brother's debut, over 500 series of the show have aired around the world in over 64 countries and regions.

In the UK, Big Brother first aired on Channel 4 and ran for a total of 11 series, plus seven series of Celebrity Big Brother and a final special edition series entitled Ultimate Big Brother. The show subsequently aired for a further eight series on Channel 5, with an additional 15 celebrity series, before going off air in 2018.

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