Guess who's back... back again. Celebrity Big Brother returns in the New Year, and there's a bagful of reasons for us to rub our hands gleefully at the latest run of the daddy of reality shows.
With probably the show's coolest ever promo campaign, a whole heap of exciting rumoured housemates (Cocozza! Giggs! Lohan!) and the promise of a more "evil" Big Brother second time around on Channel 5, there's should be no excuse for not tuning in on January 5.
To get you in the mood for the show's return, Reality Bites gave Brian Dowling a call to find out the latest Big Brother gossip.
It feels like Big Brother only just ended and it's back again?
"That's because it only just f**king has, Alex! It only just has."
What's the recipe for a great Celebrity Big Brother?
"A recipe for a great Celebrity Big Brother would be a spoonful of glamour, a teaspoon of aggression and a big helping of fun."
When do you find out the lineup?
"Because we've got Christmas and New Year, I'll probably find out on January 3, the day of our first proper rehearsal. They'll take me in a locked room with no phone line or internet, tell me the lineup and then leave me there until the launch."
I know people who work on the show already know the lineup. Do you not ask for some details?
"All the time. I've offered sex and alcohol for details, but nobody has accepted. But do you know what? I'd rather wait and find out as late as possible. I enjoy the build-up and excitement. Even letting me [know on] the day of the launch is a bit of a risk because I will just tell everybody."
Who is on your Celebrity Big Brother wishlist?
"There are a lot of people on my wishlist. Barbara Windsor, Jane McDonald, Britney Spears."
Why Babs Winsdor and Jane McDonald?
"I think someone like Barbara Windsor, everyone loves her and it would be great to see her on a normal everyday basis. Jane McDonald has lived a great life, she worked on a cruise ship, she's very funny and would be amazing."
Who are your favourites ever celebrity contestants?
"I quite liked George Galloway when he pretended to be the cat with Rula Lenska. 'Ohh you're a naughty cat... purrr'. That was amazing. I thought Pete Burns was a brilliant housemate. I thought Jade Goody was a great housemate with her family. I thought that was a great year. It was a very controversial year, but putting her family in was something that hadn't been done before. Obviously the first one with Claire Sweeney and Vanessa Feltz was great as well. We had a proper meltdown with Vanessa in the house."
Why do you think the celeb version is still such a ratings draw?
"I think it is fascinating. It's getting to see celebrities in the parts of the day we never get to see. From the moment they get up to the moment they go to bed. When we see that part of them in Big Brother, we see what they are really like. I think if you attach the word celebrity to anything people are just interested."
Do you keep an eye on rival reality shows like I'm a Celebrity?
"I watch I'm a Celebrity. I think a lot of people thought the names weren't that good this year. But I think that's a quite good thing from the casting team. We then watch the show and we see different sides of people and we see their characteristics. I don't think you need A-list celebrities to have a hit celebrity reality show. I think it's about the characters, the situations and the trials that they have to do."
It's usually the people you've never heard of that are the most interesting?
"I like that. If you already know everything about people and have views on them already it's less interesting. I think that's what was great about Paddy Doherty in the last series. He won the series, but at the start nobody knew anything about him. People warmed to him through the show, he showed a vulnerable side and people loved him and voted for him because he showed himself to be a lovely, gentle man."
Do you think Big Brother is still relevant in the era of scripted reality shows?
"I think the thing about Big Brother is that it's an original reality show. It's a proper reality. What you see happens. With these new scripted shows, a lot of it is false, a lot of it is fake. It's been edited together. In Big Brother, you see the start of something, the middle and the end. It's not scripted. And it is, and always will be, the original reality show.
"There are a lot of scripted reality shows out there doing well, but I think Channel 5 have responded to that by making Big Brother much slicker. I think the packages are better, the music's better, it's more American - I like that. That was something about different Big Brother this year. It targeted a a younger audience and I think the number of 15-35 year-olds trebled from what it was before. We're now making a show for younger people."
Do you think Channel 5's changes were a response to TOWIE and Made In Chelsea?
"I think it's partly that. I also think the show has run very successfully for 10 years on a different channel. By moving to Channel 5 it could suddenly change lots of things. If they'd made big changes on Channel 4, people would have said, 'Why change a hit?' The move to Channel 5 was a fresh start and it meant the producers could make the show that they want to make. They could make the show sexier.
"I think the changes were proved right when the ratings came in and we had over 5 million viewers on the launch. I wasn't expecting that. It was the best figures Channel 5 have ever got, and they held throughout the celebrity series and normal series.
"On Friday night evictions even at the end with the normal series, we were beating BBC Two and Channel 4 in the slot. Sometimes all the channels. When we beat things like Million Pound Drop on Channel 4, that was an 'oh my God!' moment. To beat shows like that in the ratings was a real achievement."
What themes would you like Big Brother to have in 2012?
"I think for the celebrity one it needs to be much darker. I think the first time around last year they got a very easy ride. But for the normal one, well, it's the 13th series. 13 is traditionally unlucky. So maybe it will be a bit more evil. We don't want it to be too easy in there do we, Digital Spy?"
Have you had a wedding invite from Big Brother 12 lovebirds Jay McKray and Louise Cliffe?
"I've not got the invite yet, but I'm hoping to get one very, very soon. I can't believe I might have my own Big Brother wedding. I feel like Cilla Black. I need to find myself a hat! I don't hang around with the contestants though outside of the house. I'm probably way too old for them these days."
Were you shocked by some of the things that they said in their exit interviews? There was a lot of poo talk from the pair of them.
"I wasn't shocked, because I'd seen them unravel across the series. But I think what was shocking through the weeks was the fact that the more shocking he was, the more she seemed to fall for him. Louise was never shocked or appalled by anything that he did and she seemed to like the fact Jay was so down to earth. I think that is a good basis for a long, steady relationship."
Natasha Giggs returns her parents home in Manchester
Right, some Celebrity Big Brother rumours. Would you like Natasha Giggs in the house?
"Oh my God. I think that was such a huge story. The alleged affair, the gagging order in court... I think if she is going and she is willing to talk about it, and legally can talk about it, that will be amazing.
"I think it's the greatest real life soap story. It involves a family, it involves two brothers, it involves an alleged injunction, it involves a footballer, it involves a reality TV star... it's like a Jackie Collins novel. I think people can't get enough of that story. But I won't know until January sadly if it's true."
And Frankie Cocozza...?
"I just hope it's something that Frankie is able to do. Not just physically and logistically, but mentally.
"Obviously he's had a tough time with the X Factor thing, but I think Frankie only ever really wanted to be famous. I don't think he ever really cared about being a singer. So from that perspective, I could imagine him doing it.
"I think he'd be a great name to get in there. It just depends whether it is something he wants to do. He'll be going from one great show to another and it will be fascinating to see him in the house... if it's true. If it's true."
