Which 'stars' need a BB lift?

It's that time of year again when 12 ' celebrities' begin a three-week battle for that most elusive and fickle of prizes - public popularity.

Channel 4 remains tight-lipped about who will be in the fourth Celebrity Big Brother series when it starts tonight at 9pm but speculation is rife.

Sven Goran Eriksson's ex-lover Faria Alam, 39, and former Playboy playmate Anna Nicole Smith, 38, are said to have signed up.

Cross-dressing basketball player Dennis Rodman and Dead Or Alive singer Pete Burns could also appear.

Former child actor Macaulay Culkin, now 25, and crass US chat show host Joan Rivers, 72, are believed to have been courted by producers. More controversially, Michael Barrymore was reportedly offered £150,000 to appear.

Once Britain's most popular presenter, he has been living abroad since a man drowned in the swimming pool at his Essex home. Barrymore, 53, will reportedly be arrested if he talks about the death of Stuart Lubbock, 31, in 2001.

Others who could subject themselves to the 24-hour microscope include Boy George and comic Johnny Vegas. Last year, Happy Mondays dancer Bez, 41, won the £50,000 prize.