Big Brother is back – but can it be ethical and entertaining?

Published

2 years ago

October 8, 2023

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When Nick Bateman entered the Big Brother house back in July 2000, one of the first UK contestants picked out of tens of thousands of hopefuls, he had no idea what was coming.

Thirty-five days later, he was asked to leave via the back door following his attempts to manipulate nominations. After a showdown with housemates led by the eventual winner, Craig Phillips, he returned to real life to find his face splashed across the tabloid front pages, and the nickname that remains to this day: “Nasty Nick.”

“You’re not trained for that,” Bateman tells Sky News. “You’re not trained in life, or school, or university, to be a normal person one day and well-known, famous – infamous – the next.”

This weekend, Big Brother is being revived by ITV and contestants now will be well aware of the millions of eyeballs on them. But back then, the inaugural housemates failed to believe anyone was really paying attention.

It was the start of the noughties reality TV juggernaut, paving the way for everything from Love Island and Britain’s Got Talent to the likes of Shattered (in which contestants were deprived of sleep) and the controversial There’s Something About Miriam, the dating show that cruelly exploited the fact it star was trans as a “twist” for the unwitting men vying for her attention.

Would reality TV have turned out differently, perhaps more kindly, had we never witnessed the scandal of that first series? The Nasty Nick drama was a ratings winner, lighting the flame for our obsession with real-life tension and controversy. From that moment on, producers on shows across the board were tasked with keeping it burning.

Bateman, who now lives in Australia, says duty of care back then was about “box-ticking”, with no support after your time on the series ended. The reaction to his “crime” was shocking but he was able to handle it. “Of course it upsets you but you have to be fairly thick-skinned because not everyone will like you,” he says, gamely. “It’s part and parcel if you’re in the public eye that you have to accept you can’t be universally loved.”

Other reality TV stars have not coped so well, and shows such as Love Island in particular have been criticised following the suicides of former contestants, and host Caroline Flack, with welfare packages for later series bolstered.

Now, there is increasing focus on duty of care, and Big Brother producers Banijay have announced a lengthy support programme for the new housemates as they prepare for instant fame. But for those glued to the drama, it’s also undeniable that the fights, squabbles and drunken antics have often made the best TV.

Several episodes of Love Island have sparked complaints to Ofcom over duty of care to contestants – but at the same time, those episodes are also ratings winners and the most talked about on social media.

So can reality TV in 2023 be ethical and entertaining?

‘Generating strong emotions has to be handled carefully’

“There’s no doubt that what people like to see in broadcast productions is drama, and drama often involves heightened emotions – both positive and negative,” says Professor John Oates, chair of the British Psychological Society’s media ethics advisory group, who has helped develop guidelines for duty of care for broadcasters.

“It’s really how that’s managed and how that’s evoked, if you like, from the participants. That’s an ethical and moral matter, and I think we’ve come a long way in realising that deception, withholding information from people and doing what the industry calls ‘reveals’, may be unethical. And generating strong emotions has to be handled very, very carefully so that it still respects the dignity and the autonomy and indeed the privacy of the participants.”

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It is increasingly recognised that being involved in a production such as Love Island or Big Brother can have long-term effects, says Professor Oates, and it could be argued that these types of shows encourage the “voyeuristic impulses” of viewers.

“I think most people are quite intrigued to see other people’s lives, partly because we don’t always know or think that we’re managing our own lives awfully well… and in shows like Big Brother, you are looking quite deeply inside other people’s lives. That could be seen as voyeurism.

“But it can also be said that this can be helpful to people, to see how people manage their lives, how they manage stress, so on and so forth. So there are positives and negatives, and managed well, reality TV can be beneficial to audiences.”

‘Entertainment does not need to be at the expense of welfare’

Katy Manley, managing director of producers Initial, part of Banijay UK, says Big Brother will return with an “authenticity and a rawness” that differs from the glossiness of Love Island.

And when it comes to the balance between ethics and entertainment, she says you can have both.

“Obviously we want entertaining content to happen in the house, but that does not need to be at the expense of anybody’s welfare,” she says. “That is the most important thing, our housemates and our whole team and our crew – everybody’s wellbeing is important.

“But that’s not exclusive of producing entertaining content. We’ve got so many experienced people there watching and ensuring that the support for the housemates is there, while we’re still getting good, exciting shows.”

Will the revival work?

For Bateman, almost 10,000 miles away on the other side of the world, there’s a sense of curiosity about the return of the show, which will be hosted by AJ Odudu and Will Best. Its success will lie in the casting, he says.

“It can work if the cast works, but if they get the casting wrong then it will just fall flat on its face… Big Brother is synonymous with what’s happened in the past, they can’t get away from it. And I think they’ll panic if they get low viewing figures or there’s no chemistry between the people.”

Producers should go back to basics, he says, and “not create situations or manufacture people to do things they don’t want to do”. And his last piece of advice? Perhaps they should have sought help from those who know it best.

“I think the best way to cast any shows like this is to get the ex-housemates to cast it, because obviously we’ve been there, done that – and we know the tricks.”

Entertainment

Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who played The Cosby Show’s Theo, drowns in Costa Rica

Published

6 hours ago

July 21, 2025

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Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who played The Cosby Show's Theo, drowns in Costa Rica

Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who played The Cosby Show character Theo, has drowned in Costa Rica, according to authorities.

The country’s Judicial Investigation Department said the 54-year-old actor drowned on Sunday afternoon off a beach on the Caribbean coast.

It is understood he was swimming at Playa Grande de Cocles in Limon province when he was pulled underwater by a current.

“He was rescued by people on the beach,” according to the department’s early report, but emergency workers from Costa Rica’s Red Cross found him without any signs of life and he was taken to the morgue.

Warner was on holiday with his family at the time, according to US celebrity news site People.

The Cosby Show aired from 1984 to 1992 on NBC in the US and is regarded as a groundbreaking show for its portrayal of a successful black middle-class family. It was also shown on Channel 4 in the UK at around the same time.

Its star, Bill Cosby, played a doctor named Cliff Huxtable, with Warner in the role of Theo, his only son.

The NBC sitcom was the most popular show in America for much of its run between 1984 and 1992.

Warner played the role for eight seasons in all 197 episodes, winning an Emmy nomination for supporting actor in a comedy in 1986.

For many, the lasting image of the character, and of Warner, is of him wearing a badly-botched mock designer shirt sewn by his sister Denise, played by Lisa Bonet.

Warner ‘proud’ of show despite Cosby claims

The legacy of The Cosby Show has been tarnished after Cosby was jailed in 2018 following a conviction for sexual assault.

He was released in 2021 after his conviction was overturned.

Dozens of women had accused Cosby of sexual assault or rape before the trial.

Following his release from prison, Cosby was found liable for sexually assaulting a woman at the Playboy Mansion in 1975 when she was a teenager.

Warner told the Associated Press in 2015: “My biggest concern is when it comes to images of people of colour on television and film… We’ve always had ‘The Cosby Show’ to hold up against that. And the fact that we no longer have that, that’s the thing that saddens me the most because in a few generations the Huxtables will have been just a fairy tale.”

In 2023, Warner told People in an interview: “I know I can speak for all the cast when I say The Cosby Show is something that we are all still very proud of.”

Read more entertainment news:
Danny Dyer on Mr Big Stuff
Scuffle breaks out on Royal Opera House on stage

Warner wins a Grammy

Following his career on The Cosby Show, Warner later appeared on the sitcom Malcolm & Eddie, co-starring with comedian Eddie Griffin in the series on the UPN network from 1996 to 2000.

In the 2010s he starred opposite Tracee Ellis Ross as a family-blending couple for two seasons on the BET sitcom Read Between The Lines.

He also had a role as OJ Simpson’s friend Al Cowlings in American Crime Story and was a series regular on Fox’s The Resident.

Films he has appeared in include the 2008 rom-com Fool’s Gold with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson.

A poet and a musician, Warner won a Grammy for best traditional R&B performance for the song Jesus Children with Robert Glasper and Lalah Hathaway. He was also nominated for best spoken word poetry album for Hiding In Plain View.

Warner was married with a daughter, but chose to not publicly disclose their names.

Entertainment

Scuffle breaks out on stage of Royal Opera House after performer unfurls Palestinian flag

Published

12 hours ago

July 21, 2025

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Scuffle breaks out on stage of Royal Opera House after performer unfurls Palestinian flag

A brief scuffle broke out at London’s Royal Opera House after a performer unfurled a Palestinian flag during a show.

The incident took place during a performance of Il Trovatore on Saturday.

During the final night of the 11-night run of the show, a performer held up the flag on stage.

In video footage, shared online, someone backstage could be seen attempting to take it off the performer. The performer grabs it back following a brief scuffle.

A spokesperson for the Royal Ballet and Opera said: “The display of the flag was an unauthorised action by the artist.

“It was not approved by the Royal Ballet and Opera and is a wholly inappropriate act.”

The reaction to the flag was mixed, with some people heard applauding and cheering, while another audience member was heard saying “oh my God”.

One poster on X, who claimed to have been a member of the audience, said: “Extraordinary scenes at the Royal Opera House tonight.

“During the curtain call for Il Trovatore one of the background artists came on stage waving a Palestine flag. Just stood there, no bowing or shouting. Someone off stage kept trying to take it off him. Incredible.”

Performers show support for Palestinians

A number of performers have shown support for Palestinians amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

During Glastonbury Festival, numerous acts offered messages of support during their sets, including Kneecap, Bob Vylan, Wolf Alice, and Amyl And The Sniffers.

During her band’s set, Wolf Alice singer Ellie Rowsell told the crowd at the Other Stage: “Whilst we have the stage for just a little bit longer, we want to express our solidarity with the people of Palestine.

“No-one should ever be afraid to do that.”

Following their performances, both Kneecap and Bob Vylan faced investigation by Avon and Somerset Police.

Bob Vylan were widely criticised after leading on-stage chants of “death to the IDF” (Israel Defence Forces).

The performance was live-streamed by the BBC, sparking a backlash against the broadcaster – which later issued an apology.

The investigation into Kneecap was later dropped, with the police saying there was insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction for any offence”.

Entertainment

Danny Dyer on Mr Bigstuff, Oasis, and his surprising screensaver

Published

12 hours ago

July 21, 2025

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Danny Dyer on Mr Bigstuff, Oasis, and his surprising screensaver

From Human Traffic and The Business to his critically acclaimed performance in the raunchy TV adaptation of Rivals, via a stint as Queen Vic landlord Mick Carter in EastEnders, Danny Dyer has been on our screens for more than 30 years.

But it was his performance in the TV comedy Mr Bigstuff that earned him his first BAFTA win – and one of the ceremony’s biggest cheers from the audience – earlier this year.

Now, he returns to his prize-winning role for the second series of the Sky show, which tells the story of two estranged brothers – Glen (played by creator Ryan Sampson), an anxious carpet salesman living his ideal suburban life with fiancee Kirsty (Harriet Webb), and Lee (played by Dyer), an alpha male who struts back into his brother’s life carrying their father’s ashes.

Several EastEnders alumni feature, including Nitin Ganatra, Victoria Alcock and Linda Henry, who played Dyer’s on-screen mother, Shirley Carter.

Reflecting on some of Albert Square’s most famous characters and who would work well in Mr Bigstuff, Dyer says he would have loved to see the late June Brown, who played the chain-smoking hypochondriac Dot Cotton for 35 years, taking on a role.

“Absolute legend,” he says.

Sampson suggests the late Dame Barbara Windsor, who played the formidable Queen Vic landlady Peggy Mitchell, but has a clear pitch if season three gets the green light.

“It could still be a possible, it would be amazing,” he says. “You want your Pat Butcher, don’t you? You want Pam St Clement. Why hasn’t she played a mafia boss yet? She’d be amazing. She’d be incredible at it.”

Dyer reveals his screensaver

After his long career on screen, Dyer is now enjoying playing a variety of roles alongside the Cockney geezer types that became his bread and butter in the early noughties.

His nuanced performance as awkward entrepreneur Freddie Jones in Rivals brought him praise from fans and critics alike, and Mr Bigstuff his BAFTA.

But Dyer always had range. After small TV roles in shows including The Bill and A Touch Of Frost, he grew close to the Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter in 2000 after auditioning and earning the role of a waiter in his play Celebration at the Almeida Theatre in Islington, north London.

“I’ve got Harold Pinter as a screensaver on my phone,” he says. “I always feel that he’s sort of looking down on me or close to me, so I like to just feel that he’s around me.”

Dyer continued the role in Celebration both in the West End and on Broadway, with Pinter becoming his mentor in the process.

In 2020, he presented a Sky Arts documentary, Danny Dyer On Pinter, which explored the life, career and impact of the playwright and screenwriter, who died in 2008.

He also has plans to develop a stage tribute to his friend, currently titled When Harry Met Danny.

Reflecting on his entry into the industry, he says theatre was quite inaccessible at the time, but Pinter opened it up to him.

“I think it’s even worse now, which I feel is a sad state of affairs,” he says. “I don’t know why that is. Everything’s become quite elite. All the elite f****** looking after themselves, so that needs to change.”

‘Love in the air’ at Oasis gig

But Pinter isn’t his only big influence – Dyer was one of the thousands of fans to see Oasis make their return to the stage in Cardiff earlier this month.

“It was really emotional seeing them come out,” he says. “There was a lot of love in the air, a lot of good energy.

“You know, there’s a lot of f****** shit going on. I think people, of my age as well, just want to jump around and sing them songs at the top of their lungs. So I’m still recovering, I’m not going to lie.”

Mr Bigstuff returns for season two on Thursday, on Sky Max and NOW