Big Brother (series)
- You may be looking for the series as it exists in the DWU.
Big Brother is a British reality competition television series, an incarnation of the Dutch franchise of the same name originally created by John de Mol Jr.
In the show, contestants, called "housemates" or "houseguests", are made to live together for a number of weeks, in a specially constructed house that is isolated from the outside world, within which they are continually monitored by live television cameras and personal audio microphones. Contestants are eliminated throughout the duration by being "evicted" from the house, provided they have received the most nominations from their fellow housemates, and have accumulated the lowest number of votes by the viewing public. The last contestant to remain in the house on the final night is the winner.
The UK version of the series was originally launched on Channel 4 on 18 July 2000, becoming a smash hit for the channel, and ran until 2010. It was then revived the following year by Five, on which it ran until once again being axed in 2018. It was revived for a second time in 2023 on ITV2, on which it continues to run today.
Appearance on Doctor Who
A futuristic version of Big Brother appeared in the Series 1 episode, Bad Wolf [+]Loading...["Bad Wolf (TV story)"], where it was among the various reality television shows produced and broadcast from the Game Station in the year 200,100. Its appearance is unique among cultural references within the Doctor Who universe for its explicit usage of the real show's trademarks, such as its distinctive "eye" logo and theme music. This version of the series has a similar format to its real life counterpart, albeit with a sinister twist: everyone on Earth was a potential contestant, being picked at random by the station's Transmat beam against their will, with the losers seemingly being disintegrated, in an antechamber approximating the position of the house's front door, with it later being revealed that they are actually being transported to the Dalek Emperor's flagship where they became part of the growing Dalek army. The station is said to have sixty Big Brother houses running at once, non-stop.
The episode saw the Ninth Doctor being made to compete on the series, alongside other housemates that included Lynda Moss. After discovering the grim fate that awaited potential evictees, the Doctor deliberately got himself evicted by damaging a camera, giving him the chance to escape when the disintegrator failed.
Other connections
Davina McCall, then-presenter of the real life Big Brother series, was brought on to voice her futuristic counterpart, the Davinadroid, within the episode.
The diary room chair used in the episode's version of the series was reportedly sold off to Channel 4.
The courtroom set used in the 2024 series of Celebrity Big Brother had, as disclosed in the spin-off Late & Live airing on 18 March, been a Doctor Who set, with reference made to Whovians.
Celebrity Big Brother housemates
Running alongside the regular Big Brother series, in which contestants are members of the public, is the celebrity edition, on which some individuals associated with Doctor Who media have taken part.
| CBB series | Star | DWU role(s) | CBB placement | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Sue Perkins | Herself | 4th | |
| 4 | Rula Lenska | Elizabeth Styles | Evicted | |
| 10 | Cheryl Fergison | Mrs Lloyd | Evicted | |
| 11 | Gillian Taylforth | Kathy Beale | Evicted | |
| 18 | Christopher Biggins | Banto Zame | Ejected | |
| 18 | Ricky Norwood | Himself | 2nd place | |
| 21 | Ann Widdecombe | Herself | 2nd place | |
| 23 | Sharon Osbourne | Herself | Left | Osbourne was a "celebrity logic" as opposed to a housemate. |
Companion and spin-off shows
Both Big Brother series' are typically accompanied by panel shows in which the recent events of the parent series are discussed. Two of these series' were Big Brother's Big Mouth and Big Brother's Little Brother, which were hosted by Russell Brand and Dermot O'Leary, respectively.
A one-off Big Brother series titled Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack aired on Channel 4 in 2008. The series saw the Big Brother house (with civilian housemates) being controlled by celebrity guests, with the celebrity in charge changing each day. Among the celebrities to take part were Matt Lucas, Alan Cumming, James Corden, and Jimmy Carr.
Notes
In The Ratings War [+]Loading...["The Ratings War (audio story)"], the reality show Audience Shares is a parody of Big Brother.
