Camera, lights, Botox... prepare for Wrinkle vision

"The camera adds 10 pounds," declared horrified actors and actresses when they first saw their plump selves on screen at the dawn of the television age. Decades later, today's stars are bracing themselves for a new aesthetic shock.

But this time they are more worried about their faces than their waistlines. For next month, Sky will become the first major British broadcaster to start transmission of high-definition television (HDTV) pictures. The system achieves a clearer image, breaking it up into more lines. Yet the stars of the screen have other lines on their mind.

"HDTV is not going to be forgiving in any way. Basically, if you've got bags under your eyes or wrinkles, you're not going to be able to get away with it any more," admitted Kate Gerbeau, the Channel 5 newsreader and former BBC Breakfast presenter.

Greater clarity means viewers get a much better look at faces that for years appeared flawless. In the United States, where the images have already begun beaming, previously unseen spots, blemishes and crow's feet are being highlighted on visages, prompting outbreaks of fury and talk of legal action against commentators who have ridiculed celebrities over their looks.

With a similar public outing due next month, stars are scurrying for new makeup products and even surgical treatments to beat the intrusive lenses of high-definition cameras.

"For the last few weeks in our make-up department we've started experimenting with make-up for HDTV," said Ms Gerbeau. "One of the big things is we've been using an airbrush to apply the foundation, which looks like a dentist's drill. It's like being a canvas that's spray painted, but the idea is that it gives a natural, uniform look to the complexion of the presenters."

All of this is good news for the cosmetics companies. Clinique has launched a line of products for television firms that will also be released on the general market. Dr David Orentreich, a dermatologist for Clinique, said that advance orders were already coming in for the company's "HDTV kit", which includes a "pore minimiser", "colour correctors" and an "antioxidant rescue serum."

"HDTV is a real issue for performers," said Dr Orentreich. "An analogy would be that seeing skin through a standard format is like looking into a regular mirror. Seeing it through HDTV is like looking with a magnifying mirror. It exacerbates the appearance of redness, scars, pigmentation irregularities and shows every line, pore and discoloration."

For some, simply patching over the cracks is not enough. Mel Braham, chairman of the Harley Medical Group, a chain of plastic surgery clinics, said a number of unnamed television personalities had been in touch, eager to take precautionary measures against the technology.

"There are people already coming to us who are very concerned about their complexion and how it will show up on the screen," he said.

Other presenters are reported to be requesting "Botox budgets" on their expense accounts and contributions towards facial peels. They are doing so largely as a result of what has happened in the US. There, celebrities ranging from Desperate Housewives actress Teri Hatcher to pop star Britney Spears have been slaughtered over their "real" appearance. One commentator, Phillip Swann, has become a pseudo celebrity in his own right for highlighting HDTV horrors on his cult website, www.tv predictions.com.

Technology experts are predicting a new boom for television as a result of HDTV's launch. Sky will be the first major broadcaster to make the transition, on an unspecified date next month. The others will follow soon.

It is more than twice as sharp as DVD and cinema footage, and offers four times the clarity of standard television. It also offers more vivid colours and greater depth of field, bringing everything - including background scenes - into focus.

Sky estimates that 2.1 million HDTVs will have been sold in the UK by the end of this year, compared with 700,000 at the end of 2005.

Despite consumer groups' complaints about the £300 cost of Sky's decoder boxes and the suitability of some TV sets that were sold as high-definition-ready, a massive surge in demand is predicted. Television manufacturers such as Sony are scrambling to meet it.

Jonathan White, general manager of Sony's TV and home-video group, said: "There are two big things that have happened in TV in the last 50 years - one is the change from black and white to colour, and the other is the change from mono to stereo ... High definition is like rolling the two together. This is the next logical step."

For those who will appear on it though, he had few words of comfort. "Should presenters, actors and actresses be worried? Yes, it will ... show up more details of their faces, but that is in order to bring an added level of detail and realism to the viewer."