To Fiona Sturges’s review of the evolution of British reality TV (Big Brother is back in a new era of reality TV. But can these shows be ‘kinder’ – and still give us the drama we crave?, 15 October), could I add a key element of its early days and perhaps its continuing appeal: the tacit contract between the producers of reality shows and the celebrity-obsessed, destructive sector of the national press.
The shows were welcomed by the tabloids as a production line for ready-made, disposable celebrities. In their nasty, disingenuous way, they would devote pages to cheering on and building up these people just as far as they wanted, until it was time to give readers the joy of seeing their victims brought back down to earth – a 21st-century version of Christians being eaten by lions in the Colosseum to delight the working people of Rome.
Peter Burden
Bromfield, Shropshire
