BB FANS

Musical Reality Show

Diane Abbott, Robert Winston and Frank Skinner are those being lined up for a new BBC One reality series called Play It Again, which will see celebrities learning to play a musical instrument of their choice.

Details are still being finalised, but viewers will see celebrities struggle as they are guided by trained professionals.

Adam Kemp, commissioning editor for arts, music, performance and religion, said: “This is an absolutely massive music project. A lot of people have a passion for music - most of us learnt an instrument when we were younger - we are aiming to try and rekindle that passion.

“I think something like 11 million people in this country have said they would like to learn to play a musical instrument. Play It Again is part of a generation of television of programmes where the show is just the start.”

Radio and interactive music initiatives will run in conjunction with the six-part series and there will be projects in schools and colleges, as well as links to Arts Council England schemes.

Kemp added: “This is more than just a programme that exists in isolation, we are using the television series as a catalyst to inspire interest for projects across the country.” waveguide

Now It's Astronaut Idol

Virgin empire chief Sir Richard Branson is currently negotiating with British television networks to launch a talent show for aspiring astronauts.

The BBC and ITV have held talks about the proposed Astronaut Idol, similar to ITV's Pop Idol, which scoured the nation for new pop stars.

Six contestants will compete for a spot on the Virgin Galactic project, which aims to send the first commercial passengers into space in 2009.

President of Virgin Galactic, Will Whitehorn, says filming could begin as soon as testing on the Virgin aircraft is completed in the second half of next year.

He said: "The show would be a cross between Dr Who, Star Trek and The Krypton Factor." waveguide

Spaced-out reality show



TV bosses are in talks to make 'Astronaut Idol' with Sir Richard Branson's company Virgin.

The Virgin Galactic project are launching the first passenger trip into space in 2008 and are planning a 'Pop Idol'-style show for contestants to win a place on the shuttle.

ITV and BBC are in negotiations with Virgin to produce the show, which will see six contestants from around the world compete for a free seat onboard the ship.

President of Virgin Galactic, Will Whitehorn, told Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper: "The show would be a cross between 'Dr Who', 'Star Trek' and 'The Krypton Factor'."

He said that filming could begin when testing of the aircraft nears completion next year.

Places cost £100,000 each and passengers must wear nappies and undergo training to endure G-forces of up to 300mph. femalefirst

Waveguide

The second series of the BBC reality TV show Castaway is to return next year with volunteers living on a remote part of New Zealand instead of Scotland.

The BBC said the location was chosen "to take the Castaways even further from their current lives".

In 2000, 36 people spent a year on a Scottish island fending for themselves.

BBC One Controller Peter Fincham said: "Fans of the previous series will recognise it, but we've got a few twists and surprises up our sleeve."

The BBC said the contestants on the second series would "reflect all aspects of British life" and they would use their skills to "develop the infrastructure of the island".

In the original series seven people left during the course of the year.

Waveguide

Chef Raymond Blanc is heading up a new reality show in which couples compete to run their own restaurant.

And the Frenchman will have a personal stake in the prize - the winners will be given their own establishment, which he will financially back with a six-figure sum.

The show, called The Restaurant, will be broadcast on BBC Two.

Blanc said: "To set up a business, especially a restaurant business, and make a success of it is one of the hardest things in the world.

"I look forward to sharing my experience and expertise with like-minded people who are eager to enter this crazy but irresistible world and achieve the dream for themselves.

The Restaurant will feature nine couples whose dream is to run their own establishment.

The winners will be "financially backed and personally supported" by Blanc, chef patron of the two Michelin-starred Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons in Oxfordshire.

Biography Channel Family Jewels

The Biography Channel in the UK has acquired Gene Simmons: Family Jewels, the fly-on-the-wall reality series, which it plans to transmit next year.

The 13-part series series initially aired in the US on the A&E Network, revealing the more gentle side of Simmons – the legendary, Kiss front man – and his 'traditional' American family trying to make things work in extraordinary circumstances.

In the series, produced for A&E Network by the Gene Simmons Company with the Greif Company and A Day With, Simmons opens up his home to cameras, introducing his actress and Playmate of the Year partner Shannon Tweed and their teenage children Nick and Sophie.waveguide

Jeffrey Archer to appear in ITV reality show

Jeffrey Archer has been confirmed in the line-up in a new reality show for ITV1, in which millionaire entrepreneurs give away their own money to make people’s dreams come true.

Billed as a cross between Jim’ll Fix It and Dragons’ Den, the show is understood to be set for broadcast in prime time on Tuesday nights and is fronted by Richard Madeley. As The Stage revealed earlier this year the show is being made by independent production house Fever Media and originally had the title Million Pound Giveaway.

It will now be called Fortune and features five millionaires - three male and two female - give away their own money to create a £1 million total. Members of the public then have to plead their case about why they should be given the money or a proportion of the money.

A source said: “Three of the entrepreneurs have to agree on the case before any money is given, and it can be anything amount. It’s up to the public to persuade them that they need the money the most.”

There is no stipulation on what the cash could be used for and an insider said that it could be ideal for upcoming new talent to fund themselves to make a career in the performing arts - if they can cajole the panel that it is worth it.

Archer will join Ann Summer’s founder Jacqueline Gold, Scottish entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne, Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan and MOBO founder Kanya King as benefactors.

theSTAGE

Canada turns to reality show to pick a PM

Some countries have elections. Some countries have sectarian violence. Others have civil war. But in Canada, they do things differently.

Next March four former Canadian prime ministers will take part in a reality TV show titled The Next Great Prime Minister. The four will grill contestants on their leadership qualities before picking a winner in the one-hour TV special.

While other former leaders will be strutting the world stage - Jimmy Carter worrying about democracy, Bill Clinton about poverty - former Canadian prime ministers Brian Mulroney, John Turner, Joe Clark and Kim Campbell will be donning their best clothes to question five contestants about the qualities needed to lead the nation.

But just what are those qualities? Are they looking for the staid approach of the incumbent, Stephen Harper, the stolid young conservative who put an end to 12 years of liberal rule this year? Or do Canadians hark back to racier times, to the days of Pierre Trudeau, the sandal-wearing liberal who danced behind the Queen's back?

Then there is Mr Mulroney, the straight-talking Reagan-hugging conservative who ruled Canada from 1984-1993. Or perhaps they prefer the role model offered by Ms Campbell, Mr Mulroney's successor, whom he described as a "very vain person".

For her model of a great Canadian prime minister, Ms Campbell chooses Lester Bowles Pearson, who led the country for five years in the mid-1960s. "His bow tie, smile and slight lisp formed Canada's face to the world," she writes in an essay for the show. "Pearson's colleagues often regarded him as a weak and vacillating leader. It was said that he told people what they wanted to hear, and held the views of the last person who spoke to him. His governments were scandal-ridden."

Mr Clark turns to the "passionate, difficult, courageous, western populist" John Diefenbaker, who ruled from 1957-63. Diefenbaker, lauded as a uniter, was none the less "suspicious and distrustful", writes Mr Clark. "His interest in the economy was casual."

Contestants on the show, to be made by the national broadcaster, the CBC, are asked to submit a speech saying what they would do if they were prime minister.

The qualities the judges are looking for are clear: the bow-tie wearing, weak, vacillating contestant with the suspicious air should walk away with the £22,500 prize money.

guardian

December 02, 2006

When kids start having kids

TEENAGE couples will discover what it’s really like to be parents - in new reality show The Baby Borrowers.

The experimental programme - to be shown on BBC3 in January - will film young couples aged between 16 and 19 who have to juggle everything from parenting to jobs and household budgets to their relationship.

The young couples will live in a specially created ‘teen town’ and be set a series of tasks to find out if they are really ready for the responsibility that adult life brings.

They will also have to look after children from a range of age groups, from babies to 14-year-olds.

The experiment will be conducted under the watchful eyes of professional nannies and the programme makers are working with registered charity Teens and Toddlers who are acting as consultants to ensure the subject matter is handled with sensitivity.

The UK’s teenage pregnancy rate is currently the highest in Europe.

theSUN

Wednesday December 20 2006 18:38 IST
NewIndPress

Michael eyeing reality TV for real estate deal

WASHINGTON: It seems pop singer Michael Jackson is also trying to cash in on the reality show mania by selling his Neverland Ranch on a US reality TV show.

The sprawling estate, once perfectly maintained, has gone from magical fantasyland to ghost town since the singer deserted the California property in July 2005.

Jackson is hoping to sell the ranch - with its abandoned zoo and amusement park - by featuring it on US cable network Bravo.

The embattled star, who left the US after being cleared of child molestation charges, wants to sell the property for $50 million (GBP26 million) and is negotiating with the network to sell it on their reality show Million Dollar Listing: Hollywood.

“Michael needs cash - and fast. By making the show the exclusive agent for the Neverland sale, he can get some up-front money real quick. The show will have exclusive access to Neverland and can do numerous segments about selling one of the most famous residences in the world. Michael is in a bad way,” a source was quoted by contactmusic, as saying.

“He is running out of funds and appears distraught. He showed up at a meeting last week with his pants inside out! He’s a mess,” he added.

Celebrities with a taste for success and excess

IN the space of a week, the Essex countryside has provided two celebrities with the ingredients for success and excess.

Jamie Oliver, who has a home in Clavering, brought his new Channel 4 show, Jamie's Chef, to TV screens last night. The 31-year-old reportedly spent almost £1m on redeveloping The **** pub in Beazley End, near Halstead, in time for the programme.

For the four-week series, four graduates from his charitable trust, the Fifteen Foundation, will compete to run the gastro-pub business.

The celebrity chef hopes it will act as a "big carrot" to all the other students who have passed through the foundation.

HEN News

Reality show to be set in dump March 08, 2007
Sun

C4 to make rubbish reality show

Channel 4 is to screen a documentary series involving 10 people living on one of the UK's biggest rubbish sites.
The participants will spend three weeks sourcing everything they eat and drink from things other people throw away.

"It's a way of analysing issues of how we live, what we throw away and how wasteful we are," Channel 4's director of television Kevin Lygo said.

"They will have to feed, clothe and heat themselves." Dumped will last a week and be broadcast in the autumn.

BBC

Tara folks to take on Ozzy & co Sun