Oh, Brother!

Not really, but executive producer Rebecca De Young has a go anyway. "We've got some big new plans and ideas and want this year's Big Brother to feel fresh, funny and very exciting," she says.

We've heard this all before. Just as you'll hear me - and many others - say yet again, "I'm not going to watch it this time" and then, just like last time, become addicted to the happenings in the house as battle lines are drawn and the characters emerge.

The identities of the housemates are, as usual, being kept under wraps until they enter the house at Wednesday's live launch.

As well as the main C4 show, the Big Brother industry includes spin-off series like BB's Big Mouth and BB's Little Brother with Dermot O'Leary. New this year is BB On The Couch.

At the last count, 586 people were working on the production, due to the number of different shows and the fact that BB is a 24-hour operation.

De Young promises "a bold style and some new quirky surprises" for the Big Brother House this year with 41 cameras capturing all the comings and goings 24 hours a day for the next three months or so.

When they arrive, housemates may be confused by what they find, including a giant blue roll-top bath in the raspberry pink living room. It will, we're informed, be like bathing in a disco with multi-coloured light panels surrounding it.

Cooking a meal won't be straightforward as the fridge/freezer is a long way from the kitchen - outside in the garden. The sink is on one side of the main living area and the hotplate opposite is set among a wall of white cubes. Then the housemates face the task of finding the cooker.

Those who know their art might spot an homage to Brit art's Damien Hirst in the split rubber chicken suspended in clear boxes, or a Warhol-inspired target painted on the white living room floor.

House designer Patrick Watson has gone for what he calls "a cleaner, more adult look, using more textures and colours to brand each area". It's taken 8,000 man hours to construct the house.

The series wouldn't be the same if Big Brother made it too much like a holiday for inmates. Viewers expect, demand even, nasty twists to make life uncomfortable for those undergoing voluntary incarceration.

Food and drink is always a good means of annoying housemates. So Big Brother is going to ration tea and toast. The kettle and the toaster will be locked away in a see-through box, with Big Brother deciding when they get access.

Tantalisingly, there's a phone in the house although housemates won't know who'll be calling or if they'll be able to phone home. And who exactly will be spying on the sunbathing housemates through the two large circular windows looking on to the garden?

No word on how the smoking ban coming into force in England on July 1 will be applied. All De Young says is that it "will be addressed during the course of the series".

Finding housemates is a long, complicated business. "Each year we have the challenge of casting a group that are different to previous housemates - and each year we meet new people that can do just that," says De Young.

All candidates undergo a series of very thorough checks before the producers even consider offering them a place in the house. As some have found to their cost, the price to pay for 15 minutes of fame can be high as their innermost secrets are revealed to the public at large.

"All of our potential housemates are also given something that we call the talk of doom, where we actually encourage them to think carefully about the impact that taking part in Big Brother could have on their lives," she says.

"It's important that, in addition to us assessing whether someone is right for the Big Brother house, each potential housemate thinks about whether Big Brother is right for him or her."

Big Brother: The Live Launch is on C4 on Wednesday at 9pm. Big Brother's Big Mouth follows at 11.20pm, with live coverage on E4. Big Brother's Little Brother begins on Thursday at 7.30pm on E4, repeated on C4 the following day at 7.30am.