Big Brother

Ever wondered what Big Brother would be like if it was shortened to two minutes instead of 90-something days? Produced by telly comedians Mitchell and Webb and animated by David Firth, this video fast forwards through an entire series worth of Big Brother - it's got everything, complicated voting rules, ghosts of goats and even a velociraptors (if only these existed on the real show...)

In just less than a week, roughly 12 celebrities will be entering the Big Brother house for what could be the last ever series. Unreality TV (and therefore me) got a sneak peek around the Celebrity Big Brother house today, and it's looking sweet!

Normally, the Celeb Big Brother house is a rehash of the house from the summer series. However, this year, the Big Brother house has been given a make-over just for the celebrities. We were there last year, and virtually the only part of the layout that's the same are the entrance stairs and even they've been given a dark makeover in keeping with the Dante's Inferno theme of this year's series.

Forgive me if I don't shed a tear over the cancellation of Big Brother. For years, the publicists of the show have proclaimed that it's a cultural treasure, a sign of our generation. Tabloid newspapers have dedicated entire pull-out supplements to Big Bro, and Heat magazine has drooled at a new influx of nonentities for them to take pictures of.

But, now that Channel 4 has declared the age of Big Brother to be over, The Mirror will have to put their Pollyometer in mothballs, and The Sun are surely already making an appointment for their BB Bitch, Emma Cox, to be declawed.

Even sensible intellectual snobs stopped complaining about Big Brother and the cultural brain drain a few years ago. I suspect it was a combination of getting tired of the sound of our own voices and the certainty that the rest of the country would catch up eventually.

So, it's official. Or semi-official anyway. Channel4 won't be renewing the Endemol deal to produce Big Brother after next year's series. And for a while there it seemed like it would never end.

Big Brother has had its up and downs. Its been heartwarming and controversial. But rarely has it been dull. Until now, apparently.

I haven't watched Big Brother for a while now but I think the end of the show is a big deal. Think about it - the actual BB show on Channel4 is on everyday, for at least a hour, for around 13 weeks of the year. And that doesn't include the eviction shows, the shows where something happens and they run over schedule, all those spin-offs (BBLB, BBBM, etc.) as well as the repeats in the morning and on the Sunday.

So what now?

With Jades Goody's wedding being televised this week on Living TV and her battle being recorded right until the end, we have to ask ourselves has reality tv gone too far. It certainly shows a huge amount of strenght for her to show her weakest and most terrifying moments to the public, concluding her career in the way which it began. As her battle becomes more intense, "Jade" will certainly become more controversial as it is reality tv, in many eyes, gone wrong.

I think that if people have serious reservations about this show, then they know not to watch it. Jades wishes to live the last days of her life on front of the camera by right, are being granted. Its a show which is close to many peoples hearts for many reasons whether you are a Goody fan or not. Its a show that is spreading a huge amount of Cancer awareness more than any official ad campaign. For the first time we are truelly seeing "reality tv" as nothing about this battle is scripted and for the first time its shows a vunerability in a way which makes it a tv first.