WITH yet another series of Big Brother ready to begin, British television is again about to scrape the gutter in the name of entertainment.

What started as an interesting idea has descended into increasingly dubious taste as the programme-makers have sought new, ever more shocking, ways to prop up viewing figures.

The last series of Celebrity Big Brother gave shameful exposure to the appalling racist bullying of Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty, leading to a slap on the wrist from TV watchdog Ofcom.

We have very little confidence that lessons will have been learned because the makers of Big Brother appear to know no bounds when it comes to decency.

The line has been crossed by Big Brother on more than one occasion, and that line must be restored if we are to stop television losing its sense of judgement completely.

In Holland, the makers of Big Brother are planning to broadcast a show in which a terminally-ill Dutch woman will select a recipient for one of her kidneys. It is called The Big Donor Show and viewers can vote on who they want to receive the donated kidney.

Is this the kind of sick television we want to come to this country?

We hope Channel 4 has learned its lesson and that better judgement is demonstrated this time round.

We also hope that the viewing figures are so low that the freak show Big Brother has become is consigned to TV history.