Channel 4

Channel 4 went straight from 'Big Brother' in to 'This is England 96' at 22:00. The CA spoke over the end credits of Big Brother to tell us that the next programme or "major television event" as he called it would be on in a few seconds and that there was no ad break. Big Brother ended, the sponsor credit played out, a Channel 4 ident (housing estate) played out then the drama sponsor credit played out followed by the programme.

No surprise they did that - they've done it for many new things launched off the back of BB. More surprising though it didn't air any credits - the screen went black with just the web address at the bottom then the end cap. A regular trailer for next week then played out over the sponsor bumper.

Anyhow - hope it finds an audience. C4 is in desperate need of more returning drama series.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/sep/08/tv-ratings-this-is-england

Good to see it do well. Interesting too it got 1.2m in the advertisers favourite 16-34 demo - more than any ITV drama launched this month.

Er... anyone watching Big Brother right now? Most bizarre ad break I've ever seen!

It started off by saying "Big Brother's Best Bits" and then they'd show two normal adverts which were within a Big Brother style frame. There was a little clock in the corner counting down and then once the ads had finished they'd have a five second 'best bit' from previous series and then they'd repeat that cycle. Weird.

I guess it was just a way of keeping people watching while the break was on. I wonder if this is something C4 will try and do with other shows.

Yes... I missed the beginning though. Any idea what that was about? Or was it just a way to show some classic clips? How bizarre!

Yeah, Channel 4 are known for their special breaks but this one was just odd.

For anyone who didn't see it:- Big Brother went to a break, the normal Big Brother end of part sting played followed by a graphic within a Big Brother branded frame with the words 'Big Brother's All Time Best Bits' written in it and Marcus Bentley saying the same. The Big Brother sponsor credit played out full screen and then the frame came back still with the words 'best bits' in it which was followed by adverts within the same frame. After some adverts there was a very short clip from Big Brother history. After each clip/advert the frame spun round to reveal the next clip or advert on the reverse with a whooshing sound effect. The programme then started again with the sponsor credit as normal. No reference was made to the unusual break.

I wonder how this fits in with Ofcom's rules on separating programmes and adverts.

There was no C4 break bumper with this particular break also which would suggest the revenue went to the programme makers rather than C4

Here's a snippet of the ad break:
[media:f747005043]http://up.metropol247.co.uk/dbl/bbad.f4v[/media:f747005043]

I think it was a proper break played out by Channel 4 because they did play the sponsor sting at each and the break was not subtitled. I'd also guess that the +1 dog will disappear when it is played again in an hour.

Going back to the Ofcom thing, I could see how they would get away with it if it was just clips from previous series that didn't feature any of the current cast (notice how the bit with Marcus Bentley was part of the programme and not part of the break) but the fact that Nasty Nick was featured in the advert section might be where it broke the rules. I guess we will see.

EDIT : Was that Derren Brown insert into Big Brother really 'live'? I mean, was it happening at the same time as Big Brother was being recorded? I'm thinking probably not. I'm looking forward to his show anyway.

EDIT 2: Whoops. Looks like Derren Brown's programme isn't live either.

"Just coming up to 10pm" says Derren Brown at 22:02.

This Derren Brown prog is obviously fake. The lad playing Matt is obviuosly in on it as he can't act to save his life. Derren Brown shouldn't be allowed on TV again after this shambles! I lost interest after the obviously fake in the garden bit in the first quarter of an hour!

If he is just an average person then his lack of acting skills would be expected.



If you are talking about the bit where Matt was asleep and he went out in to the garden to see Derren Brown, then I would have to agree there was some television fakery going on there. I spotted a few noddy shots and when the camera was behind Matt and showing Derren, I don't think that was really Matt we were seeing. That doesn't mean the whole programme or premise is fake though.

I also don't think it is live, nor does it need to be (yet).
Anyway, the last part is starting so I'm off to watch it.