Entertainment

Channel 5 boss: No regrets about Big Brother axe

Ben Frow called time on the show in 2018.
Ben Frow called time on the show in 2018. Ben Frow called time on the show in 2018.

Channel 5 controller Ben Frow has said he “never” regrets axing Big Brother and has no plans for a similar reality show on the channel.

The TV chief called time on the long-running reality show in 2018 amid a ratings slump.

The programme – which saw housemates live together in a custom-built home for weeks without access to the outside world in a bid to win a cash prize – started in 2000 on Channel 4 and Channel 5 took over in 2011.

Asked if he ever regrets giving the show the boot, Mr Frow told the virtual Edinburgh TV Festival: “Never.”

When asked if he would introduce another similar show, he said: “No, right now I couldn’t afford it, the world is very crowded with reality shows, I think there are supreme reality shows out there.

“Don’t go where you can’t be the best, turn left and go in a different direction and provide an alternative.”

Mr Frow also addressed the claim that the channel is very “Yorkshire-heavy and white”, saying: “Yorkshire is very white. We have to make much more effort, sometimes when I’m talking to producers they say, ‘it’s very white’, and I say find them, you’ve got to make the extra effort, that is something that is always in the back of our minds though.

“Yorkshire is part of Channel 5’s DNA.”