According to The Star, Big Brother is to me moved to a late night slot this summer "because of falling ratings".

C4's director of programmes, Julian Bellamy, has confirmed that the show's peak-time slot is under threat from ratings pullers like Kitchen Nightmares and Grand Designs, some of which regularly boast more than 4m viewers. This is 1.5m more BB8 managed last summer.

Bellamy said: "Exactly where we play Big Brother in the summer has yet to be decided. It will depend on the quality and mix of the new programmes coming through."

An industry insider reckons the writing's on the wall for Big Bro: "A couple of years ago Big Brother was such a ratings banker that it would be unthinkable to even discuss such a move. So this is a clear sign that the show's glory days are behind it."

The decision to screen Celebrity Hijack, instead of just resting Celeb Big Brother, has proved a disaster... It has seriously damaged the brand and there must now be doubts whether Big Brother can recover."

It's my fave series by far, but ratings for Celebrity Hijack have hit lows of 300, 000 so it's unlikely they'll be doing any more 'experiments' like this for a while.

-->

Came straight to this page? Visit www.availableforpanto.com for all the latest news.