Big Brother: Channel 4 boss says reality show's revival is 'depressing'

Channel 4's programming boss has said the return of Big Brother to screens on ITV2 is part of a "depressing" moment in TV.

The reality show first aired on Channel 4 in 2000 before moving to Channel 5, and will be revived by ITV next year.

Channel 4 chief content officer Ian Katz said it was a "wonderful show".

"I'm sure it will bring an audience to ITV, but I do think there is something depressing about this microwave moment of TV of shows being reheated."

Mr Katz told the Edinburgh TV Festival: "If Channel 4 is about anything it is about finding that new dish."

His comments came a day after ITV's managing director of media and entertainment, Kevin Lygo, told the festival Big Brother was the programme that had "shaped the most television" over the past 20 years.

He explained that the popularity of another show, Love Island, as well as the November launch of streaming platform ITVX, had encouraged the company to reboot Big Brother five years after it ended on Channel 5.

"We look at Love Island and we see this extraordinary successful show that defies all the sort of current logic and goes against what people say in that, 'Young people don't watch [linear] television'," he said.

"And then you think every single night at nine o'clock on ITV2 and on the [current streaming service ITV] Hub is this show for eight weeks that more young people watch than they watch anything else.

"And we should all take great joy in the fact that, if you get the right show, they're going to come and watch it."

Asked whether bringing back Big Brother was sensible given its track record of occasionally having negative effects on contestants, and after Love Island has attracted complaints and controversy, Mr Lygo suggested broadcasters were now far more "mindful" of their "duty of care" than in the past.

Elsewhere on Thursday, the BBC revealed it will revive another hit programme, Gladiators, next year.

The Saturday night sports entertainment game show, previously popular for pitting contestants against characters including Wolf, Jet and Hunter, appeared on ITV from 1992 to 2000, before being resurrected on Sky One in 2008 and 2009.

It will now return on BBC One. Kate Phillips, director of unscripted at the BBC, said: "A new generation of viewers can now look forward to watching a Saturday night spectacle like no other."

Filming will take place at the Utilita Arena Sheffield.