The latest series of Channel 5's Big Brother draws to a close tomorrow – the show's 18th(!) run since it first launched back in 2000.

Big Brother is now old enough to drive, get married and even go boozing (in the UK, at least). And for those of us who've been there from the very beginning, it's quite incredible to see just how much the show has changed.

Here are just a few examples of how much BB has morphed over the years, and – strokes chin – some consideration of how those changes perhaps reflect the changes in TV and society as a whole…

1. Something's happened to Marcus Bentley

The very first episode has our narrator – a morose Marcus Bentley – sounding like he's just heard that the family dog had just died. Back then, the show was meant to be more of a psychological experiment and so Bentley's narration was deliberately stoic.

Cut to 2017 and he's SHOUTING and SCREAMING and hamming his Geordie accent up to insane degree. What used to be, "Day 12. Darren is by the chicken coop," is now, "DEEEEAAAAAYYYYYY TWEEEELLLVEEE. Kim has just PUNCHED whatsherface in the gob!"

2. Today is pure filth compared to back then

Channel 5

We don't want to sound all Mary Whitehouse here (ask your parents), but Big Brother is a perfect example of how we've all become so desensitised to naughty stuff since the turn of the millennium. And maybe it was partly Big Brother's fault.

The most saucy thing that happened in the first series was Craig and Nicola stripping off during their pottery task, while suffering from a serious case of cabin fever. And the following year made actual headline news when Penny dropped her towel for a brief second. She almost lost her job as a teacher because of the 'scandal'.

Now we're left feeling put out if an episode doesn't feature someone gyrating their nether regions in someone else's face, or someone simulating fellatio on a banana. Anything goes. Even Kinga's infamous bottle incident feels tame in comparison.

3. There were actual chickens

Channel 4

As part of the "experiment" side of things, the housemates in the first series were tasked with looking after actual chickens and collecting eggs and everything.

Can you imagine the likes of Jedward or Gemma Collins handling that kind of challenge? The chickens would be dead within a day.

4. Tasks were MUCH simpler

Channel 5 Channel 4

Today's types of task feel more like a Bushtucker Trial than a test of the wits. Either the housemates are forced to eat horrible concoctions or they have to dress up in ridiculous outfits and make complete and utter tits of themselves.

The first few weekly tasks in Big Brother's first series? Making pottery, memorising facts about each other, pedalling on an exercise bike and practising Semaphore. You wouldn't have thought that would have made great television, but it did.

5. Even the scandals were more innocent

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The whole nation went barmy in the summer of 2000 when Nick Bateman was kicked off the show for trying to manipulate nominations and making up stories about his pre-Big Brother life.

If the 'Nasty Nick' scandal were to happen today, no-one would care. To cause an uproar nowadays, a BB shocker would have to be on the Shilpa vs Jade scale, or someone would have to be violently sacrificed as part of an eviction or something.

6. Millions of people tuned in to every episode

It's indicative of the state of current TV ratings as a whole, but these days, an episode of Big Brother is thought to have done well if it tops a million viewers.

Back in the day, 3 million was the kind of number of votes it would get each week, let alone viewers. In week 8 of the first series, a massive 2.2 million people voted to evict Melanie Hill alone and an estimated 10 million tuned in to the see the finale of series 1.

7. There used to be a psychology show each week

Channel 4

For the first few series, Big Brother would have a weekly special edition where a group of psychologists would analyse the housemates' behaviour, alongside the usual highlights. We're unsure if this sort of sober analysis would sit well alongside today's antics.

Remember: this show was a "social experiment" at the beginning. Promise, it was.

8. There wasn't any live intro show until series 3

The first couple of series didn't feature any live show until the first evictions, which meant no Davina welcoming the housemates in front of a large crowd baying for blood.

Nope, they just kinda... wandered in through the back door. All at the same time. There weren't even any stairs. How quaint.

9. There were 11 housemates – max

In the first two series, it was strictly 11 housemates, at an absolute push. (The first was only meant to have 10, but they had to replace Nick halfway through.)

Nice and easy to follow. But these days, BB and its Celebrity variant can boast upwards of 20 housemates. For some reason, the days of being able get invested in a decent numbers of housemates have been replaced by chucking in as many people as humanly possible.

It's going to get to the point where a larger percentage of Britain's population will have been inside the house than not.

10. Crowds never booed until series 3

Channel 4

It's hard to believe now, but the British public was generally lovely to Big Brother housemates until 2002. Evictees were treated with a tiny smidgen of respect for providing everyone with entertainment for the past few months, irrespective of whether or not they were a dick.

That was until Adele Roberts (now a successful radio DJ) was evicted in BB3. When she left the house, she was greeted with deafening boos from the crowd over her clashes with Jade and other housemates. At the time, it was genuinely quite shocking.

Since then, it seems fans love to flock to the house purely to boo, whoever the hell's coming out the door. Sometimes they boo even before they've entered the house.

Alex Reid got a horrible reception when he entered CBB7, only to go on to win the show. Nadia Almada was declared a hero after winning BB5, and then was booed to high heaven when she returned for the Ultimate edition a few years later. You're a fickle lot.

11. There was absolutely NO contact with the outside world

One of the great things about the first few series of the show was that you genuinely believed the housemates had zero idea about what was going on in the outside world, or what people watching at home thought of them.

Today, it seems producers have just said "sod it" and anything goes. Each live eviction, the housemates can hear the crowd's reactions to their names, Rylan Clark was allowed out of the house to take part in X Factor tour rehearsals, and Bianca Gascoigne clearly had some kind of idea about what her ex was saying about her in the papers.

The feeling of the housemates – famous or otherwise – living in a bubble and cut off from the outside world has well and truly gone, and we reckon that's a huge shame.

12. Big Brother and the Diary Room have become characters themselves

Channel 5 Channel 4

Just look at how different the Diary Room is from the first series to a more contemporary one. Back then, a nondescript grey room with a one crappy-looking chair was all that was needed. Later diary rooms were so cartoonish, they could've come from Roger Rabbit's house.

Not only that, but Big Brother him/herself has clearly grown tired of having to live there for 17 years. At first, all he/she did was emotionlessly hand out tasks and summon the housemates for nominations. Now, they're constantly playing pranks on the housemates. Can't blame them, really.

13. There weren't any showmances

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If anyone got it on in the first few series, you believed it. Either they were just a bit horny and had a cheeky snog and that was it, or, sometimes, an actual relationship began inside the house.

Remember Helen and Paul in series two? She had a boyfriend on the outside, they clearly liked each other, but kept each other at arm's length. They never kissed, as much as they wanted to, and it was gripping to watch. After they left the house, she broke up with her boyfriend (poor guy!), and stayed together with Paul for five years.

Now, each series has at least three or four "relationships" that spring up after about five minutes. It's hard to believe any in any BB romance, without suspecting it's all just for attention. Which leads us to...

14. They weren't all in it just for fame

The majority of people that went up for BB in the first three or four series weren't obviously only doing it for a taste of fame. It wasn't clear that any kind of fame or fortune was guaranteed after the series ended and most people that got in were relatively down to earth, laid-back folk. Most, you never saw again once they left the house.

That all changed after series 4, arguably the least exciting series ever with its cast of uber-nice housemates. As a direction reaction, series 5 introduced so many fame-hungry, volatile characters that it all built to the infamous "Fight Night".

In the years since, there have been fewer "down to earth" people, and the majority of housemates either clearly want a gig on TOWIE, or have already had some kind of fame, like Wayne Rooney's alleged mistress Helen Wood or Pop Idol star Zoe Birkett.

The lines between Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother are now almost entirely blurred.

15. It was actually reported on the news

BBC

Yes, anyone who was evicted in the early days would at least have a taste of fame... but only for about 10 minutes after they left the house. That was it.

We remember vividly how Lynne was the first person to be evicted in BB3, and soon after appeared as a brief guest on So Graham Norton. That's how big the series was back then. Now, you're lucky to get on Rylan's chat show if you win the whole thing.

Not only that, but even a generic eviction would get coverage on BBC News or News at Ten. Even someone being nominated made the news (see above). It was so much of a big deal that Channel 4's rivals would need to report on it. Even The X Factor struggles to get attention nowadays, so BB – sad to say – has no chance.

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