'Biggest ever' talent prize offered

And the 12 contestants in the Fame Academy house will start the series on Friday 4 October by singing live on TV.

The series will combine round-the-clock supervision of housemates with a series of tough creative challenges.

And the BBC is hoping that the show, which opens against Julia Roberts' The Runaway Bride on ITV1, will prove a ratings winner.

Besides the Friday night visits to Fame Academy on BBC One, digital channel BBC Choice (soon to be reborn as BBC Three) will carry frequent updates and special programmes about the contestants.

The corporation has teamed up with Big Brother producers Endemol to create the format, which will see a group of hopeful's cut off from the outside world in a £35m mansion.

Celebrities

The contestants will be under the direction of head teacher Richard Park and his team, who will tutor them in music and dance.

The teaching staff will be joined by celebrities including Shania Twain, Enrique Iglesias and Anastacia.

But the students will have to cope with strict rules - such as being up at 6am every day, lights out at 11pm, no smoking anywhere in the building and only one phone call a week.

Each week there will be a "showdown" show in which one person is expelled.

And the three judged to be doing less well by their teachers will be put "on probation" - their fate to be decided by a viewers' vote.

Phone line profits will go to Children In Need and setting up a bursary for talented wannabes to attend performing arts schools, the BBC has said.

Though contestants will be monitored 24 hours a day all around the house, they will not be shown in the bathroom or having sex, said programme chiefs.

"We'd only use it if something was happening in the bathroom that shouldn't be happening - a heated conversation, for example," said executive producer Richard Hopkins.

Fame Academy, 2030 BST Friday 4 October BBC One