Ahhhh, simpler times. I think nowadays this would be boring to most fans as we are now used to life moving at a much faster pace, with internet and mobile phones giving us up to the minute news. One thing I do miss is knowing about the backgrounds of the HMs........if they did this now, I mean showing HMs in their daily lives, we would not be fooled so much,

The lack of 'effing' this and that, instead of speaking is noticeable, it is as if they use 'effing' instead of words, as if they are not intelligent enough to speak normally, or want to stress something. Shame really, it makes them look idiots. Thanks for the memory.....

My daughter was watching BB1 & mentioned it, in glowing terms.

Subsequently, from BB2, I have been an avid viewer - my daughter no longer watches

When a member of the family recorded it one night. I then started to watch it every year after that. Well...I have missed the odd couple of series. The same with Celebrity Big Brother.

Few days into series 1 in 2000 people were mentioning it in the canteen at my work at the time.

Thought I better check this out and never left the show which I suspect most of those people did

I have been watching from launch night BB1, and have watched every series.

I have rarely missed an episode since.

Similar to Barracute, I saw a half-page article in the Daily Star talking about the new show in July 2000. I can't remember if I saw the first episode or not, but I do remember watching some episodes during the first few weeks, including the one where Nick was comforting Caroline. Started watching properly when Nick got confronted by the others round the table for cheating, and subsequently removed, and have watched every episode of every series, including all spin-offs, ever since.

I saw it advertised on the telly but never really gave it a second thought,I was turning the telly over to CH4 to see if there was anything worth watching like other peeps on here I missed 3 or 4 episodes, watched it loved it ,and have been hooked ever since,just a shame it is not what it use to be, proper BB were the rules applied and no outside news or interference,it has definitely gotten worse since CH5 took over,but then I think it is better than no BB as the other channels were not interested,Nasty Nick what a big deal that was made out of him,yet now it seems so tame what he did, comparing him with some of the thugs that have been in BB since he was an angel

There was a show/documentary about the original series in Holland on channel 4 before series one started. I stumbled across that one by accident, thought it looked interesting so tuned into the UK series when it started. Been hooked ever since.

Watched every series with only one lapse -- BB13. I stopped watching after Caroline got evicted, then went on holiday, and I just wasn't interested in picking it back up after seeing who was left in the house.

Wow. Just watched that first episode. What a difference.

Started watching during BB3 as I was intrigued by the live feed on E4. I used to watch more LF than highlight shows back then. First full series was BB4. Definitely found the social experiment side more interesting. BB5-6 I continued to watch every episode but towards the end of BB7 my attention started to wane, it started off strong but the manipulation was becoming obvious. Its been a slippery slope since BB8 with a brief resurgence of interest during BB10. I haven't watched it at all bar a few episodes since it moved to C5.

Thank you for all your replies, all very interesting, its great to find out the different ways you discovered BB. i can't imagine what it would be like if BB had never happened, just take a look at this forum for example and the thousands and thousands of posts that have been made over the kast 15 years... all because C4 took a chance on a new kind of show!

And a fair few of them are your's Barra
As you can see I'm a poster of very few posts mainly because I was foruming elsewhere

Excellent thread though, but has made me miss it even more the way it used to be, I'm all for change IF change is good. Which going by the ratings and voting it clearly isn't!

Some posters might be interested in a new C4 reality program, marriage at first sight Personally I couldn't think of anything more horrendous, it's being billed as a social experiment, (Like our dearly beloved BB in the beginning) Hey two eps in and I'm hooked only one episode a week though but could fill a gap before CBB begins

Ha ha! Theres plenty made a lot more then me! I know it does bring up mixed emotions but i do enjoy looking back and thats why i started the thread to share fond memories of a far innocent time!

I think it would be better if BB had never happened. Even setting aside the pernicious effects it's had on tv and on British culture, all the hours people spent watching BB, watching the live feed, and commenting on BB would have been better spent in other ways. Even in terms of posts, out of the thousands and thousands of posts, only a small fraction of them have been worth the time and effort they took to write, or to read.

yet you've written 84,000 posts on a show you think should never have happened!

Word of mouth and from reading about it in the tabloids. I started watching at the end of big brother 2.

One of my children who would've been about 18 at the time told me about it and said it was something i'd like ,so I tuned in to see ,and I was hooked it was about 2/3 days in to BB1,

I've watched every BB since ,and used to be Hooked to the Live feed when it was on to the point the rest of the family wished i'd never been told about it

None of my Family can stand it even the Son who told me about it originally ,stopped watching after BB2

Yet you still go to the trouble to watch it and post/read on a forum dedicated to it ..... hmm!

Anyway ..... I remember coming home from work one night and my mum telling me all about this new show on telly about a bunch of people living in a house and how the silly sods had forgotten to buy loo roll on their shopping budget. She said it was quite fascinating and she kept on watching to see how they coped with the loo roll situation. And there was this lad called Craig who laid on the sofa all day farting
Curiosity got the better of me and I think it was 2 weeks in to BB1 I started watching it myself.

We always watched it together, ranted and moaned about it together, usually shared all the same opinions on the housemates. She always vehemently denied watching it but would always have the LF on from the moment she got up in the mornings

The last episode she ever saw before passing away during CBB in January was the massive row going on in the bedroom while Perez was humping his way around the garden. Don't know why but that memory does make me giggle

I watched it in the original year. Think it was the second eviction when tom went. Then I was on and off for a bit before getting hooked. Watched every year more or less.

Don't people write about the Iraq war (for example) even though they think it would have been better if it hadn't happened?

Most of my posts have been about housemates though, or about the ways viewers react to BB. However, they still weren't the best way to spend the time, and I wonder how many people really think they couldn't have found better uses for the time they spent on BB and BB-related things.

Wasted time is wasted time, possibly wasted on something even stranger/worse than BB.

In a parallel world you and I post non-stop about Celebrity Love Island.