Channel 5 has today confirmed that it has renewed Big Brother UK for three more years, keeping it on our screens until the end of 2018.

After months of speculation over the show’s future, the broadcaster has officially announced a lengthy extension of its rights deal with production company Endemol Shine UK.

Under the terms of the agreement, C5 will continue to air one ‘civilian’ and two Celebrity editions of the format every year, as well as all associated spin-off programming.

This means that BBUK is now guaranteed to remain on air for nineteen years, encompassing nineteen regular and 22 Celebrity series.

Paul Dunthorne, C5’s chief operating officer – who negotiated the agreement – said: “Big Brother in all its guises brings a huge and varied cross section of viewers to Channel 5 and typifies the appointment-to-view programming we want on the channel.

“It remains one of TV’s most talked about and popular programmes and I’m genuinely delighted we’ve secured it for at least three more years.”

Nick Samwell-Smith, creative director of Endemol Shine subsidiary Initial added: “Channel 5 is a fantastic home for Big Brother. Over the past four years we’ve worked closely together to keep this extraordinary format feeling fresh, noisy, and creatively vibrant.

“I’m thrilled that this landmark deal means we can look forward to three more years of big characters and juicy storylines from inside our favourite house.”

The news marks the first official clarification of C5’s Big Brother rights deal since the network was taken over by American media giant Viacom last September.

It also follows the ratings success of the most recent Celebrity run – which became C5’s highest rating to date, averaging 3.08million viewers in January this year.

Repeats of the nightly episodes also fared well on satellite channel MTV, outperforming its all-day average audience among 16-34’s by 20%. According to C5, over 21million viewers watched the series at least once across all Viacom-owned channels.

Previous rumours suggested that Viacom was preparing to scale back the show – with one report claiming that it could be moved to an 11pm timeslot, while Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman stated that he was wary of taking it “too far”.

Although Big Brother continues to perform well, it is increasingly attracting criticism from fans for abandoning the principles of its original format – such as the famous ‘no contact with the outside world’ rule.

Recent Celebrity runs have seen housemates granted contact with outsiders for work commitments – including Rylan Clark, who left the house to rehearse for a tour, and Perez Hilton, who was given showbiz news stories so he could record episodes of his radio show.

Producers have also come under fire for enacting different nominations twists every week and meddling with gameplay. Controversy erupted during last summer’s series when Ashleigh Coyle was nominated for an eviction, despite being promised immunity.

Bosses recently announced an increased £150,000 prize fund for the civilian version, which is expected to return in June.