Notting Hill to be location for 'new Big Brother'

Notting Hill has been chosen for the programme for its cultural diversity, its fame following the success of Richard Curtis's Notting Hill film and the fact that David Cameron lives lives in the area.

Producers are focusing on picking characters on the area broadly covered by the Notting Hill Carnival: between Notting Hill Gate, Ladbroke Grove, the Westway and Chepstow Road.

Executive Producer Stephen Lambert, who was behind TV hits such as Faking It and Wife Swap, said: "Notting Hill has so much to offer. The variety of people's life opportunities, the cultural mix and the fact that people have heard about it - partly because of the movie, partly because of what it is and partly because the people who may well be running the country by the time the series goes on air all live there."

Provisionally titled Notting Hill, eight programmes of the show, which is expected to hit screens in the autumn, will feature 10 hand-picked characters in their 20s and 30s who all live near each other.

It is not a competition and there will be no auditions but episodes will be screened the week they are filmed so characters will be seen discussing the main issues of the week and will be able to read what is written about them in newspapers and online.

Simon Dickson, Channel 4's deputy head of documentaries, said: "Notting Hill takes a fabulous cast of characters living in an iconic location and follows their lives in almost real-time."

Mr Lambert added: "Channel 4 encouraged us to dream up something ambitious and risky.

"Most documentaries are filmed over several weeks and are edited over months. We are doing everything in a single week."