THERE'S an Indian aphorism that Anthony Burgess quotes which goes: "When lovers couple, even God averts His eyes." In Big Brother, inmate Penny Ellis has promised, jokingly, it is said, to have sex on air. I very much fear that the promise, sincere or otherwise, will ensure that there are plenty of eyes on the current Channel 4 series. In fact, the apparatus of this show is about progressive corruption of us all, participants and viewers. The cameras, the voyeurism, the quest for celebrity, the lure of money, the exhibitionism and the possibility of sexual display combine to create a momentum towards extreme behaviour and an appetite to watch it.

What we feel to be legal and decent in society is regulated not by law but that other essential social component, dignity, and is a matter for self regulation. Dignity, after all, is bound up with personal choice and the rights of the individual. At this point we have to ask how important dignity might be. Is it simply a nice-to- have feature of society? If we decide to "do it in the road" as The Beatles recommended, then the indecent and illegal aspects come into play in court before the question of indignity is broached.

Oppressors usually try to remove dignity when subjugating victims; the shaven heads of the prison camps did not hurt - they demeaned. Dignity is about self- esteem and cohesive behaviour. So if entertainment such as Big Brother is based on the willingness of participants to jettison their own dignity, to create artificial relationships for the purpose of destroying them progressively, is that a proper subject for public entertainment?