A MALVERN firm played a part in creating a dramatic image for the new series of Big Brother, which starts tonight (Friday).

Fleet Line Markers, of Spring Lane, supplied paint and machines to create a giant replica of the show's now famous eye logo above the historic White Horse of Uffington in Wiltshire.

The unmistakable image of hillside logo is being used to advertise the Channel 4 reality TV show's fourth year, along with the theme tune in voice-over-free trailers.

It was created by an outfit called Circlemakers, which had been commissioned by the Big Brother production company, Endemol.

They contacted Fleet, which is better known for producing paints and machines to mark out football pitches for everyone from Manchester United down to local schools. Based in Malvern, but with factory and office units in the USA and New Zealand, Fleet is a market leader in line marking for sports pitches.

Steve Hayman, Fleet's sales manager, said: "The National Trust would only let them do it if they used an environmentally-friendly paint which they could remove in 24 hours. That's exactly what we do."

Mr Hayman said the company was not told initially why its services were required.

"I went down there early one day and it was all shrouded in mystery," he said.

"I didn't know what they were doing until they were well along with it, then I recognised the Big Brother logo."

It took Circlemakers a morning to complete, with the afternoon spent filming it from helicopters. The logo was removed the next day.

Circlemakers is best known for creating some of the mysterious "crop circles" which have appeared in the West Country over the last two decades.