Channel 4 chief brands ITV's Big Brother reboot "depressing"

By Neil Wilkes, Editor-in-chief | 25 August 2022

Channel 4's chief content officer Ian Katz compares ITV's reboot of Big Brother to an 'old dish being reheated in the microwave'.

Channel 4's chief content officer Ian Katz has appeared to criticise ITV's decision to bring back Big Brother for a new series in 2023.

The hugely-popular reality show aired on C4 between 2000 and 2010 before moving to Channel 5, where it continued until 2018.

Earlier this month ITV announced that it had concluded a deal to bring the show back next year on ITV2 and its major new streaming service ITVX.

Talking at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Thursday, Katz told delegates: "It's a wonderful, wonderful show and it did wonderful things for Channel 4 for 10 years, it did a great job for Channel 5 for seven years and it only just stopped three or four years ago.

"I'm sure it will bring an audience to ITV.

"But I do think there's something depressing about this microwave moment that we're in with television, with so many old dishes being reheated.

"If Channel 4 is about anything it has to be about looking for that new dish, looking for that new recipe, and that's what we need to keep our focus on."

The new series of Big Brother is expected to begin next May.

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