Channel 5 boss: No regrets about Big Brother axe

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.”