Mother of octuplets signs up for UK reality TV

Depending on your point of view, it represents either a stunning coup for the UK television industry, or confirmation of its inglorious role in the decline of civilisation: Nadya Suleman, the woman who achieved fame by giving birth to octuplets, is planning a lucrative career as a British reality TV star.

Ms Suleman, widely known as "Octomum", has begun talks with Eyeworks, a London production company, to make a documentary about the not-so-everyday life of her brood. The six boys and two girls, who were born in January, are thought to be the first octuplets to survive into infancy.

In an interview with the US supermarket tabloid Life & Style, she somewhat ambitiously claimed that the proposed deal would be structured to protect her offspring's privacy. A crew from Eyeworks will fly to her native Los Angeles to film the children every two months, until they reach adulthood. "What I'm doing with this TV show is creating documentaries about the lives of my children," she said.

The yet-to-be-titled programme will initially be broadcast in the UK, before a syndication deal is sought in the US. "The producers will come by and take some footage and then they'll go. They won't be invading my life or my children's lives."

A spokesman for Eyeworks stressed that negotiations for the proposed show are still ongoing.