CT Casts Eye Over Channel 5's Big Brother

It was only last year that we said goodbye to Big Brother as it departed from our television screens in almost as large a celebration as it had when it was first launched on Channel 4 in July 2000.

Fast forward one year and it’s back! But this year it’s broadcast on a different television channel featuring a brand new presenter, a remodelled house and a whole host of TV personalities and notable names eager to kick off Channel 5’s celebrity precursor to the reality show series and its spin off programme, ‘Big Brother’s Bit On The Side’.

Channel 5 are launching their Big Brother with a month long luminary version of the programme before the normal, non-celebrity version begins the day after the last VIP standing departs the house. Having worked with Big Brother creators and producers Endemol UK since the show’s inception eleven years ago, Creative Technology (CT) was delighted to support Channel 5’s offering for the 2011 season.

Utilising the same Big Brother house set, located in Elstree Studios, CT was tasked with providing a variety of products to adhere to this year’s new branding and logo design specially created for Channel 5 by the channel’s in-house creative team and branding specialists Hello Charlie.

Providing a variety of outdoor screens positioned around and on the Big Brother house, CT utilised 40 sqm of Flyer 18 for the main house screen complemented by 280 MiStrips highlighting the house and external audience. A further 250 panels of MiTrix was used to create the newly designed and all seeing Big Brother eye, which was sited on the orbit stage adjacent to the house.

The studio-based programme ‘Big Brother’s Bit On The Side’ also took advantage of CT’s audio visual services using various 42” and 50” plasma screens to enhance the studio set. CT’s Project Manager Paul Gilzene comments: “Having worked on Big Brother since the very start of the show means our products and people work seamlessly together with the set designers and production team on both the main house and in the studio.”

Series 2 and Ultimate Big Brother winner Brian Dowling now hosts the Channel 5 series and with 2011’s opening night viewing figures the highest they’ve been for several years, Big Brother is sure to be an eye-opening ratings winner for both the series and the television channel.