TV
Ingrams lined up for 'Celebrity Wife Swap'
Published Sunday, May 18 2003, 07:34 BST | By Neil Wilkes
Jade Goody and Millionaire cheat Charles Ingram are being paired up in a special 'celebrity' edition of Channel 4's Wife Swap.
Filming has already started for the programme, which the network hopes to show "as soon as possible."
Jade has moved into the Major's country home in Wiltshire for eight days, taking on the role of his wife Diana and looking after their two children.
Diana, meanwhile, has moved into Jade's Thurrock home with TV presenter Jeff Brazier, Jade's boyfriend.
Stephen Lambert, director of programmes at production company RDF, said the programme would not focus on the Millionaire case and remain true to the original format, which drew ratings as high as 5 million when it first aired on C4 last year.
"We are not distorting what the programme is about in order to get some celebrities," he said. "Both these couples are in the public eye and in both cases people are interested in knowing a lot more about them.
"We would have cast them even if they weren't famous. They'd still be good people for wife swap because they come from completely different social backgrounds and see the world in very different ways.
"Swapping a young couple from London with a middle-aged couple with kids from Wiltshire would be a very good Wife Swap, even if they weren't famous."
Celebrity Wife Swap is already more than half way through filming.
"They seemed to get on very well at first, which was a bit of a shock. But now the cracks are starting to appear," said Hilary Bell, C4 commissioning editor.
She added that a further four celebrity wife swaps were in development.
Filming has already started for the programme, which the network hopes to show "as soon as possible."
Jade has moved into the Major's country home in Wiltshire for eight days, taking on the role of his wife Diana and looking after their two children.
Diana, meanwhile, has moved into Jade's Thurrock home with TV presenter Jeff Brazier, Jade's boyfriend.
Stephen Lambert, director of programmes at production company RDF, said the programme would not focus on the Millionaire case and remain true to the original format, which drew ratings as high as 5 million when it first aired on C4 last year.
"We are not distorting what the programme is about in order to get some celebrities," he said. "Both these couples are in the public eye and in both cases people are interested in knowing a lot more about them.
"We would have cast them even if they weren't famous. They'd still be good people for wife swap because they come from completely different social backgrounds and see the world in very different ways.
"Swapping a young couple from London with a middle-aged couple with kids from Wiltshire would be a very good Wife Swap, even if they weren't famous."
Celebrity Wife Swap is already more than half way through filming.
"They seemed to get on very well at first, which was a bit of a shock. But now the cracks are starting to appear," said Hilary Bell, C4 commissioning editor.
She added that a further four celebrity wife swaps were in development.
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