"Real EastEnders" is "biggest reality show ever"

Ten families are to live in a purpose-built London community for what is being billed "the biggest reality TV show ever."

In the show, which has the working title Project Blue, hundreds of cameras would follow every move of the willing residents as they go about their daily lives. The participants would be allowed to exit the compound for work or school - which would not be filmed - but would be under the constant gaze of cameras at home.

Programme makers Shed Productions hope that the real-life soap opera will prove as tempting a prospect for viewers as its fictional counterparts, which regularly draw audiences of over 10 million. "We plan to broadcast the show three times per week," a spokeswoman told BBC News Online, adding that casting had already begun for the families.

The ambitious year-long project has yet to be commissioned by a broadcaster, although Sky One is seen as the favourite to give it a pick-up.

Project Blue is the latest in a new wave of longer term reality shows to hit screens. In Germany, a continuous edition of Big Brother has been a ratings winner for the RTL network while in the US, a similar "never-ending" reality show called Forever Eden was axed after just seven episodes.