ITV in bid to inspire UK to get fit

5:11pm Tuesday 18th November 2008

ITV1 has announced a package of programmes to inspire the nation to go on a health kick after Christmas.

A "major new initiative" to be launched in early 2009 ties in with the Government's Change4Life campaign tackling obesity, ITV said.

The initiative, with a working title of The Feelgood Factor aims to encourage people to shape up and get fit. The high-profile campaign, will also be supported by some yet-to-be-named celebrities from the channel's most popular shows.

The initiative will launch with a big entertainment event at the end of January with a follow-up show at the end of March. The shows will be complemented by an online support campaign at www.itv.com.

They will be a mix of popular live music, dance and comedy combined with advice and challenges from celebrities and experts on how to lose weight and get fit in 2009. The shows will also feature ways of getting friends and family involved by sponsoring weight loss.

Throughout the country everyone can pledge to give a friend pounds in cash for every pound in weight they promise to lose, to be donated to a charity of the slimmer's choosing.

An ITV spokesman said: "What we were trying to do is capture that moment when we all have that resolution after Christmas. We're going to be encouraging people to do it with their work friends, people in their street and family. The idea is something we have been considering for a number of years now."

Another show which is part of ITV1's winter/spring season is Claire Sweeney's Big Fat Diet, which saw the actress pile on about two stones in weight and her bra size boosted to a G cup.

Jo Clinton-Davis, controller of popular factual commissioning said the show was a journey into modern-day obesity. She said that Sweeney put on weight by taking the attitude that "life's too short to diet".

Ms Clinton-Davis said that Sweeney's cholesterol level was raised and "it took only about six weeks to put on the bulk of the weight".