Initial Names Big Brother Creative Director

LONDON: Denis O'Connor, exec producer at Endemol Shine UK's Initial, has been appointed creative director of Big Brother programming, effective immediately.

In his newly created role, O'Connor will have creative oversight of all Big Brother programming, including Big Brother's Bit on the Side, which is due to debut on Channel 5 this summer. He will also supervise the upcoming season of Celebrity Big Brother. He will work under Nick Samwell-Smith, the managing director of Initial.

O'Connor has been an exec producer on Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 5 for three years. He has also served as exec producer and showrunner for Celebrity Scissorhands (BBC Three), Home for the Holidays (Channel 4) and The Great British Weather (BBC), among others.

"Denis has played a pivotal role in the ongoing success of Big Brother, which has gone from strength to strength in recent years with record ratings for the latest series," said Samwell-Smith. "He is a brilliantly creative producer and with Denis at the helm Big Brother couldn't be better placed to keep fans enthralled year after year."

"I'm hugely excited about this new role and continuing to work closely with the outstanding production team," added O'Connor. "Big Brother has had a great start to the year and we have some big ideas in the pipeline for this summer's show."

O'Connor's appointment comes on the heels of Channel 5 extending its Big Brother deal with Endemol Shine UK for another three years, which will see the hit reality show airing on the network through 2018.