The return of Big Brother is a "microwave moment" for TV, the boss of Channel 4 has said.
Ian Katz blasted ITV chiefs for serving up the old reality show to its audiences five years after it was last on air.
He said the show was wonderful, but added: "There’s something depressing about the microwave moment in TV – with so many old dishes being re-heated."
Katz, whose own channel is currently airing reboots of The Big Breakfast and Changing Rooms, said: "If Channel 4 is about anything it is looking for the new dish, and that’s what we need to keep focusing on."
He faced criticism over his remarks at the Edinburgh TV Festival. BBC1 boss Charlotte Moore pointed out: "Well, Channel 4 bought The Great British Bake Off back."
Bake Off moved from the BBC to C4 in 2017 and has become one of its most popular programmes, regularly pulling in up to 6 million viewers.
The BBC has also enjoyed huge success with nostalgic comebacks, including Doctor Who and Blankety Blank. But boss Moore said: "It would be a problem if it was all we were doing."
Big Brother launched on Channel 4 in 2000 and ran for a decade before being axed by then-boss Kevin Lygo.
It was picked up by Channel 5 in 2011, where it ran until 2018. Now Lygo is content chief at ITV, where he is to bring back the show on ITV2 next year. He told the Festival audience the decision followed the success of Love Island.
ITV’s reality boss Paul Mortimer said his channel was also looking for another major reality show for ITV2 – but not one that involves dating.
Channel 4, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this autumn, has announced a new “social experiment” reality show Rise & Fall, in which participants will be separated into the haves and have-nots.
The lucky ones live upstairs in luxury while the others are consigned to the workplace basement – but they can negotiate to improve their conditions.
Another new show is Make Me Prime Minister.
In it, contestants including council troubleshooter and social media sensation Jackie Weaver and an Afghan refugee compete to see if they could do the job better, overseen by Tony Blair ’s former spin doctor Alastair Campbell and Tory peer Baroness Warsi.
Katz – whose publicly owned but commercially funded channel still faces being privatised by the government despite widespread opposition – said: "When we commissioned [Make Me Prime Minister] we had no idea there would be an actual vacancy."
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