It looks like there'll be 16 housemates this year - and they may well all now enter at the launch, so expect a LOT of bird-song during the first few weeks of live feed action...

e4 won't be scrapping it's usual programmes this year to make way for near constant 24 hour coverage of the house - if you want to see the live feed, satellite and cable viewers will need to use the red button... (Sky viewers:  see above for a quicker way of getting to the live feed!)

BBUK bosses have been paying close attention to the last few US series, so expect bigger and better challenges, and maybe even the introduction of a 'head of household' - someone who has more control over the house, and is immune from eviction whilst holding the title...

The public are expected to play a bigger part this year - not just evicting housemates, but setting tasks and deciding rewards too...

And here are the rumours regarding this year's housemates - these usually turn out to be a load of nonsense, but we'll see...
- One housemate does stand-up comedy
- One housemate has been deported from America
- One housemate is a DJ
- One housemate is a Buddhist
- One housemate is Muslim
- One housemate wears a watch worth £13,000
- Three housemates have children
- Three housemates were born outside the UK
- One housemate has appeared in a film with Hugh Grant
- One housemate has had a breast enlargement
- One housemate has never watched Big Brother
- The oldest housemate is 42