Vodafone have become the first company to independantly fund an entire TV series. They have sunk a wad of dosh into their new business reality TV show ‘The Big Idea’ due to air on Sky One later this year.

The Sunday Times Reported

On Friday, the celebs fronting the show were signed: Lord Bilimoria, chief executive and founder of Cobra Beer, and Craig Johnston, the former Liverpool football player who made and lost a fortune inventing the Predator Boot, will join Ruth “the Badge� Badger, the failed finalist of BBC2’s The Apprentice show.

Auditions are being held in Manchester and London, where entrepreneurial wannabees can pitch their ideas to a panel of three judges — sort of Pop Idol meets Dragons’ Den.

Showbiz isn’t cheap, though, as Vodafone is discovering. The bill starts with the £100,000 prize money and setting up the shows — and that’s before the cameras have even started rolling.