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C4 puts Big Brother up for adoption UK terrestrial Channel 4 is to axe long-running reality show Big Brother when its contract with producer Endemol ends in 2010, freeing up 50m (US$81.4m) for new programming. At an autumn season press launch in London this morning, C4 director of television and content Kevin Lygo said that next year's series of Big Brother and spin-off Celebrity Big Brother would be the last on the network.  The show is likely to be picked up by another UK channel, but the move will free up to 200 first-run hours in peak time across Channel 4 and E4 from 2011."Big Brother is still profitable for C4 despite its reduced popularity, and there could have been the option to renew it on more favourable terms," said Lygo. "That’s what a purely commercial broadcaster would have done, but C4 has a public remit to champion new forms of creativity. "That remit to push the boundaries has been an essential part of the weird chemistry behind Big Brother’s success, but it’s now what is telling us that the programme has reached a natural end point on C4 and it’s time to move on." Julian Bellamy, head of Channel 4, added that the replacing of the show will prompt "the most fundamental creative overhaul in our history." "We've 18 months to transform the schedule," he said. "Today's announcement is our biggest-ever creative call-to-arms to producers to come forward with their very best ideas." Because of the longer lead times involved, C4 said it has already begun reviewing its drama commissioning strategy, and is intending to allocate an additional £20m annually from the money freed up by cancelling Big Brother to commission more drama across Channel 4 and E4 from 2011. A further £30m will be available across other genres. The extra drama funds will be focused on delivering more event dramas, following miniseries such as Red Riding and The Devil’s Whore, as well as seeking returnable series aimed at younger audiences for Channel 4 and E4, in the mould of Shameless and Skins. In a bid to emphasis the renewed focus on drama, C4 unveiled a number of new commissions for the second half of 2010 and beyond, including We Were Faces, a four-parter from BAFTA-winning director Shane Meadows; Homeland, a four-part Peter Kosminsky drama; and Any Human Heart, a four-part adaptation of William Boyd's best-selling novel. The broadcaster has also lined up The Queen, a drama documentary series examining the social history of Britain through the prism of key events in the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Five British actors - Emilia Fox, Samantha Bond, Susan Jameson, Barbara Flynn and Diana Quick - play the monarch at pivotal times, and, via a mixture of dramatised scenes, news archive and testimony from royal insiders, each episode focuses on turning points in the Queen's reign. On the factual front, the channel also confirmed the commission of three-part investigatory series The Force; and four-part travel series Kevin McCloud's Grand Tour of Europe, both of which were reported by C21 earlier this year. Adam Benzine 26 Aug 2009 © C21 Media 2009 
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