Dead Famous
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Dead Famous (2001, Bantam Press, ISBN 0552999458) is a whodunit novel by Ben Elton in which ratings for a Big Brother-like reality television programme rocket when a housemate dies.
Live on television, a murder in a reality-show is committed. Despite cameras everywhere with gripped viewers watching 24-hour footage over the internet as well as the daily programme, the murderer is unknown. The detective in charge of the case is unfamiliar with the genre of programme, and unimpressed with what he learns of it.
The book begins with the police reviewing old tapes of the programme. Their discussion does not make the identity of the victim clear to the reader for some time into the book.
Elton uses the book to make comments about the phenomenon of reality shows, the people who make them, the people who go on them, and the people who watch them.