Brother, am I glad mutants are going; RESULT!

Byline: DEREK McGOVERN; JOHN SHAW 

GREAT news to hear that Channel 4 are at last putting Big Brother out of our misery.

Big Brother was a phrase made famous by the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four - and sometimes it seems it's been running since then.

This series, I mean. At its peak it was attracting eight million viewers, almost all of them under 20.

It wasn't so much a TV audience as an Arsenal Carling Cup squad. Now the audience is down to two million, which means either six million have wised up or they've been stabbed.

Locking a dozen or so nearmutants in a room and watching them bicker is not my idea of entertainment.

That's my idea of Fergie's after-match inquest last week at Burnley.

The decision to axe BB is going to leave a massive hole in Channel 4's scheduling, as well as denying millions of wannabes with a propensity to clap excitedly for no apparent reason a career alternative to working as an air steward.

You know a show is doomed when punters can't even bother betting on it.

And Hills say turnover on this year's BB is 75 per cent down on last year. They offer 3-1 for C4 to cut their losses completely and not bother to show next year's series. That's a great idea: Big Brother - Behind Closed Doors.

Five are the 6-5 favourites with Ladbrokes to screen a Big Brother XII, with Sky One - which is how the viewer would be known - available at 15-8.

CAPTION(S):

OH BROTHER: 'Angel' is evicted in week 4 of this year's show