From phone-in votes to choose foster parents to game shows where vital organs are the prize, the latest reality shows from the country that gave us Big Brother, pictured, are more extreme than ever

It's among the most popular shows on television, but if you work nine to five, chances are you've never seen it. Pointless asks its players to come up with obscure answers to broad general-knowledge questions; those with the fewest points proceed to the next round. Like the best game shows, it makes perfect sense as soon as you've watched five minutes of it.

The debt-laden Big Brother TV production company Endemol today reached a deal with a majority of its lenders about restructuring of its €2 bn (£1.67bn) of debt – despite opposition from two key players.

An action man, we hear?

Yes, Tom Toumazis, who startedyesterday as the chief executive of the newspaper group Mecom, is an energetic sort of chap.

Labour turned to the former boss of ITV and senior adviser at Goldman Sachs yesterday to oversee a management and commercial overhaul of the party.

Holy Moly began as an online message board with the intention of puncturing the inflated egos of celebrities. More than eight years later it has joined forces with Endemol, the company behind Big Brother. And to mark the occasion, Jamie East, the internet entrepreneur who has spent most of this century concealing his identity and answering to the name of Mr Holy Moly, has revealed himself to the public.

France is the most fractured country in the world. How can you govern a country which has 1,000 different cheeses, eight rival trades union federations and several flavours of all political movements, including the Trotskyists?

Jonathan Ross is no stranger to stars but he will be taking a closer look at them from behind a telescope in a new BBC show.

Outlook Channel Four no doubt has all sorts of cultural reasons for dropping Big Brother after a final series next summer but, as ever in television, the biggest imperative is a financial one. With hindsight, the beginning of the end for the show on mainstream telly in the UK – though note that Endemol licenses it to 66 other countries – came in 2007, when Channel Four signed a contract with the production company for three more series.

Big Brother is to be axed after one more series next year, Channel 4 said today.

Manchester City are to work in tandem with the group responsible for Big Brother to develop their global brand.