Big Brother is talking

As the fourth series of TV phenomenon Big Brother comes to an end, the producers can pat themselves on the back for creating another resoundingly successful run of the reality show.

Yes, there have been those that have criticised this year’s series for being boring. But Big Brother is still going strong with the public still tuning in in their millions to watch the antics of Cameron, Scott, Ray et al.

Big Brother has gone through a lot of changes over the years, and that’s what has kept the format fresh, but there’s always been one constant, one thing that is even more a part of Big Brother than Davina McCall and her occasional bump - the show’s narrator Marcus Bentley.

“I don’t think Big Brother has been at all boring this year,” he says in those soothingly familiar Geordie tones. “I just think this year it’s been a lot subtler.

“There’s been some great personalities. Anouska was great in the first week and Fed was very opinionated. Then of course there’s Jon Tickle, he was a great find. The drink has made people argue and bicker recently, but overall it’s just been a real nice bunch of people.”

Bentley, 34, is probably the most famous narrator in the country. His clear and concise north-east accent has become as recognisable a signature of Big Brother as the theme tune. He is immensely proud of the show and will defend it until the chickens come home.

For a start he’s a huge fan and says he would watch it anyway, but also Big Brother came along at just the right time in his life. Married to Julie, who he lives with in Canterbury with their three children, Bentley has been a jobbing actor since he left drama school in 1992.

After graduating he went into repertory theatre, won a Fringe First award in Edinburgh and did bits and bobs of television, including London’s Burning and The Bill. But a third child put pressure on the family finances and Bentley was on the verge of giving up acting for good.

“You can’t support three children when you’re getting jobs here and there, that aren’t very well paid,” he says. “So I was about to slink off and be a teacher. I’ve enjoyed teaching and directing in the past and I’m sure I’ll do them again.

“But I have to see how far Big Brother takes me. Hopefully people will want to use my voice more. It’s given me a career that I’m very happy with.”

During the course of the second series, however, it seemed that Bentley was on the verge of losing his career-rejuvenating job.

In a newspaper interview he commented on that year’s housemates saying who he liked and what he thought of each one. The show’s bosses were said to be angered he had spoken out when staff on the programme are supposed to remain impartial.

“I didn’t get in trouble,” he corrects. “Not at all. The producer just smiled at me when I saw him afterwards. Basically the papers made it more of a story than it was.

“I’d done an interview and said a few things that, with my experience now, I know I shouldn’t have said. I said I didn’t like a particular housemate, not slagging him off, but I said I wasn’t too keen. I’m certainly not allowed to say those sort of things now.”

Bentley, who was born in Gateshead and brought up in Stockton-on-Tees, has done well out of Big Brother. From being ‘Genuine Geordie’ on his agent’s list, he is now Marcus from Big Brother and his voice is in demand to narrate a wide range of things from the Proms on the BBC to adverts and game shows.

“Big Brother has gone absolutely huge which is great for me,” he says. “It’s not a tough job. It’s everyday for two months but let’s face it, I read out loud for a living. Enough said.”

Talking to Bentley is easy, his voice is so familiar. But Bentley has found, as Big Brother has become more and more a part of people’s lives, that his voice can sometimes generate the kind of reaction in people normally reserved for much better-known faces.

“Most people know immediately who I am,” says Bentley. “And now people are starting know what my name is. I’ve worded 240 episodes of Big Brother so people are really used to hearing my voice, it’s everywhere.

“If I’m on the phone to some credit card or phone company paying my bills then I hear giggling on the other end of the line. The other day I had one girl getting me to say certain things.”

One of those things was ‘chickens’, which Bentley says is the word that got him the job in the first place.

“I bumped into the commissioning editor on the first series about 18 months ago and she told me it was her who got me the job purely because she loved the way I said chickens,” he explains. “Now when I’m asked about it I always say it’s a good job they didn’t put horses in the house.”

As long as Big Brother continues, Bentley’s voice will narrate the events, and he’s positive the show will carry on for years to come.

“It’s still incredibly popular,” he says. “It’s all over the papers again, it’s on the internet, it’s opened up a big world of Big Brother. It’s booked for the next two years and I can see it going on beyond that. People go mad for it.”

That’s the future but there’s a far more pressing matter in the world of Big Brother at the moment. Who is going to win?

“I couldn’t possibly say,” laughs Bentley. Worried you’ll get into trouble again? “They actually gave me media training last year. I was trained, I swear to God, by the lady who gives training to Tony Blair. It really restricts you but I still just relax and have a good natter.

“But the other reason I can’t give an opinion about who’s going to win is that I haven’t got a clue. In years gone by I could always pick a winner, even if I was wrong. But this year it’s even stevens. So watch this space.”