Big Brother bubble finally bursts

There was a time when furtive glances, romantic trysts and secrets buried under a web of lies were regarded as entertainment in Britain. The stereotypical British reserve and “stiff upper lip” was celebrated in literature and in films such as Brief Encounter. The nation identified wholeheartedly with the English breed of undemonstrative passion and reticence.
However, in recent years one has only had to flick on the television to see that exhibitionists exchanging privacy for celebrity have become what the public crave. Programmes such as Big Brother, The X Factor and I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here have come to dominate the TV schedules and tabloids. Without even trying, you will probably have become aware of names such as “Nasty” Nick Bateman and Jade Goody. They, among others, were the epitome of vacuous and meaningless celebrity who occupied seemingly unlimited pages of Heat magazine and happily sold their lives to the papers for column inches and transitory wealth.
Now, with the announcement that the programme that fascinated millions, Big Brother, is to come to an end at the end of the next series, it is difficult to see how such nobodies once walked hand in hand with the zeitgeist.
Originally deemed innocent and “cool new Britannia” in quintessence, Big Brother has revealed itself to be horrifyingly insidious and fed into a vulnerable and naïve society. A decade on from its beginning, the public have fully woken up to the manufactured and contrived nature of a ‘reality’ show designed for our amusement and titillation.
Thus, as ‘Big Brother 10’ came to an end this summer and it was announced that the 11th series would be the final one, it was accordingly met with as little interest as can be expected. Britain has moved on. The programme has long been too familiar, too predictable and stereotyped. Contestants did not behave like themselves, but were affected, savvy and devised for the sinister intention of maintaining public interest. The programme’s creators and Channel 4 were fully aware that the more we saw unfolding on live TV, the more we wanted. The more we wanted, the more they gave, and reality television continually spiralled to new lows.
I hope that the culmination of Big Brother marks the watershed of pathetic reality TV and of exhibitionist untalented celebrities.
Somewhere along the way, it is not just them, but we, who have lost our way. We have been lost in a twisted era where ‘real’ pain has meant emptying your heart on national television (The X Factor) and ‘reality’ has meant playing up to a stereotype (Big Brother). Now that era is coming to an end, it is time to refill those wasted hours with real entertainment. It is time for a welcome back to actual reality and English reserve.