BBC Three has commissioned a third series of Celebrity Scissorhands to air in Autumn 2008, from Brighter Pictures.

Renowned British hairdresser Lee Stafford returns to take the helm at the Celebrity Scissorhands Hair & Beauty Academy and attempt the impossible – to turn a group of celebrities in to fully-fledged hair and beauty experts in just three short weeks.

Presenter George Lamb (Make My Body Younger, Big Brothers Little Brother) is back to host the hour-long primetime show from inside the purpose-built state-of-the-art academy in Camden, London.

The second series of Celebrity Scissorhands was a ratings success, peaking at 646,000 and averaging at 380,000 viewers throughout the series.

The celebrities will be working flat out, six days a week, nine hours a day perfecting their techniques on willing members of the public.

Clients will be asked to pay what they think their treatment is worth and all money donated to the Academy goes to BBC Children In Need, whose mission is to positively change the lives of disadvantaged children and young people across the UK.

As a massive reality TV fan, I have been avidly watching this years series of Celebrity Scissorhands.

It is one of the most ‘real’ reality TV shows around, and I can’t understand why it has been consigned to BBC Three.

However each night when they announce that “you too can have a Celebrity Scissorhands haircut” at the Lee Stafford salon, I shudder and silently will the general public not to leave of their senses.

I watched the show tonight as Tamara Beckworth destroyed a young girls crowning glory, as she hacked it off haphazardly. When she finished the girls hair must have had 100 different layers and looked like it had been cut with a knife and fork.

I couldn’t be paid enough money to let one of these numpties near my hair, whether it be on my head or on my body. Anyone so desperate to meet celebrities that they would let them destroy their hair or rip their private fuzz off in front of the nation has serious issues!

For those considering making a trip to the Scissorhands salon, good luck, you’re gonna need it. I’d love to see some before and after shots when you emerge!

The time has arrived for Lil’ Chris’ appraisal and to say he looked nervous at the prospect would be an understatement.

“How are you?” asked Lee, as Chris entered the office. “How confident do you feel about cutting hair at the moment?”

“I had my confidence knocked yesterday and this morning not being able to cut hair.. but now I’m alright again,” admitted Chris.

“And how easy do you find your customer skills? How do you think you’re doing?”

“I don’t know.. I find it hard to keep talking; I get into deep concentration, it’s hard to multi-task..”

“It’s like playing the guitar and singing at the same time, isn’t it?” smiled Lee to Chris’s agreement. “How far do you still think you’ve got to go?” Lee asked.

“A long way. A lot of the haircuts I’ve been lucky they’ve come out looking okay…”

“And what do you think your strengths are in the Academy?”

“Just going for it! Giving it a go. Cutting women’s hair, I feel a lot more pressure, especially young girls’ hair.. I think I should be more independent with doing haircuts, not relying on you to tell me what to do ..”

Lee frowned. “It is only week one, Chris. I think you need to slow down a little. There’s no prizes for finishing the client first. Get more into your detail now, hair around the neck… I love your energy in the Academy, you’ve just got to be a bit more professional; don’t shout across the Academy.. When you take the gown off a client, don’t flick it off so the hair goes all over the client..”

“Sorry,” said Chris.

“I love your enthusiasm, when you’re quick you don’t seem careless, you’re great under pressure, very confident, you’ve done some lovely cuts.. I think you’ve got a good chance of showing everyone who’s older than you how to do it. Come to me for guidance, listen carefully, you still need to be guided heavily. Yeah?”

It’s day six in the Scissorhands salon, and it looks like Javine’s luck has just ran out!

The pop singer sneaked into the staffroom for a quick nap this afternoon, but no sooner had she put her head on the pillow, than Lee Stafford, salon manager, walked in and caught in the act.

Lee called Javine into his office. “Shall we have a little appraisal then?” said Lee, not waiting for an answer. “How do you feel about cutting hair?”

“I like to create as I go along..” she said.

“And your work ethic?” Lee asked.

“I think it’s good..”

“I’m finding you a bit lazy to say the least,” said Lee.

“In which area?”

“Falling asleep out the back for example..”

“My energy is really low. I’m not allowed to fall asleep?” protested the singer.

“You have to go through it; I’ve had plenty of pregnant women working for me. Saying ‘I’m tired, I’m going to sleep’ is not a winning attitude. Headaches, runny noses.. in my world, people have got clients; money to put in the till. A headache is not a good enough excuse.”

“Everyone’s different though..” said a defensive Javine.

“This is nothing personal… Javine, I think you’re great, but if you’re on my team you need to be more proactive, less lazy, step up a bit -”

“I want to go home. I’m knackered,” declared Javine.

“You’ve done nothing!” laughed Lee. “I had severe dermatitis on my bottom for the first three days in this Academy… You do not look that unwell to me…”

That’s her told then!

After the success of last year’s series, which brought the BBC Children in Need fundraising message to a new generation of viewers, the Celebrity Scissorhands hair and beauty academy will open its doors once more.

It’s the battle of the hair brushes as a team of celebrities go head-to-head to see who can ‘cut’ the mustard and be crowned Celebrity Scissorhands Hairdresser Of The Year 2007.

Amongst the celebrity trainees are: pop singer and mum-to-be Javine; teen rocker Lil’ Chris; Hollyoaks actress Carly Stenson (Steph in Hollyoaks), It girl Tamara Beckwith; British actor and star of Willow Warwick Davis; 3 Non-Blondes’ comedian Ninia Benjamin; actor and Neighbours star Ben Nicholas (Stingray in Neighbours); and BBC Radio One Breakfast Show’s Aled Haydn Jones.

Under the guidance of renowned British hairdresser Lee Stafford, the celebrities will attempt the impossible – to be transformed from the utterly untrained to fully fledged hair and beauty experts in just three short weeks.

In the purpose-built state-of-the-art academy in the heart of London, Lee will train the cutters as they are let loose on the public in aid of BBC Children in Need.

Returning to the academy is last year’s favourite trainee – Eighties pop icon Steve Strange. Steve has been recruited to assume the role of Assistant Manager and will be helping Lee to run the hair and beauty academy as well as getting to grips with more courageous clients’ hair.

George Lamb (The Restaurant – You’re Fried, T4 and E4 Music) will present the hour-long prime-time show from within the walls of the academy.

As our celebrity trainees create beautiful barnets or, more realistically, horrific hair dos, George will exclusively report on all the academy action, get the lowdown on who can really hack it as a hairdresser and encourage viewers to fund-raise or donate money to BBC Children in Need.

Joining Lee’s staff of experts this year is the glamorous beauty guru, Lindsay Hunter – wife of the late snooker legend Paul Hunter. Lindsay is a qualified Beauty Therapist and will be teaching our trainees a variety of beauty treatments.

From massages to spray tans; the celebrity trainees will be on hand to pamper the public and leave them feeling relaxed and rejuvenated.

Over the three weeks, Lee’s celebrity apprentices will be working flat out, six days a week, nine hours a day perfecting their techniques on willing members of the public. And the trainee’s had better work hard, as every tip donated in return for a haircut/treatment will go to BBC Children in Need.

The series culminates with a glamorous finale where the top trainees will have their scissor skills put to the test in front of an audience of critical hairdressers and celebrities. They will be put under pressure to present a catwalk collection of their best haircuts of the series, as well as perform an intricate haircut live on stage.

The show’s spectacular finale will also see a ‘cut off’ where a panel of judges will decide which celebrity will be crowned Celebrity Scissorhands Hairdresser Of The Year 2007.

Hairdressers train for years to be good enough to hold their own on a stage like this. Lee’s celebrity trainees will have just three weeks. Will the trainees be able to cut it in the world of hairdressing? Find out when the series kicks off on the 28 October.

My admiration for Nikki has grown so much since watching Celebrity Scissorshands in the early hours of the morning on BBC1. (It is being repeated Thursday, rather Friday at 2405, not to be missed)

A tanned Nikki arrived all smiles and friendliness, looking wonderful after her holiday in Dubai, anticipating her much needed massage, to rid her of the stress of travelling. She greeted all with a big smile and friendly chatter.

Whisked off for her stone massage by Darren Day, who was absolutely wonderful, kind and gentle, where the two seemed to get on very well as they chatted away through the massage, intercepted by giggles from Nikki. The SHOCK was still to come as she moved on for her manicure. A very mean Steve delighted in antagonising Nikki, making fun of her in the training room and telling her he was going to give CUT her beautiful long hair.

Nikki was horrified and begged him not to touch her hair. These novice ‘stylists’, having had less than two weeks of training, slip into the training room, throughout the lengthy cuttings, for advice on how to go from stage to stage through the styling. Darren, in the training room, asked how anybody could possibly want to come to them for a hair cut.

Back to Nikki we found Steve and Lee Stafford, with a ‘trust me’, putting heavy pressure on Nikki to have her hair cut. ‘Nikki this is for the Children in need’, ’don’t be a wimp’ (more politely put by me), brandishing scissors, sneaking up behind her and waving a long length of hair, supposedly cut off her head while she was unaware. Enough to send anyone into hysterics but Nikki just put her face in her hands, peeped out with pleading and despairing eyes, trailed off to have her hair shampooed by Darren and shed a few tears, begging Steve to just go home and leave her alone.

She was assured by Lee that he would not let her go home unhappy but she whimpered ‘I am already unhappy’. Sweet Darren told Nikki not to upset herself, very gently and she replied ‘I am already upset.’ The bullying came to an end when Steve, after Nikki told him she liked him and loved the A team, admitted it was all a wind up.

Why is everyone so cruel to Nikki, deliberately winding her up and then, if she does have a tantrum, they are over the moon because they have something to winge about. Leave our Nikki alone!! Her one liners and facial expressions were brilliant. The massage should have been kept for after the ordeal. Darren was lovely and I hope he becomes one of the 5 stylists chosen for the styling of the celebrities’ hair on ‘Children in Need’ night.

This article was written by Evelyn Lewis, our newest contributor at Unreality TV. Welcome aboard Evelyn. We’re thrilled to have you with us!

The team at BBC’s Celebrity Scissorhands played a cruel joke on Big Brother star Nikki Grahame this week and nearly reduced her to tears.

Nikki agreed to take part on the show, which is in aid of this years Children In Need, under the impression that she would be receiving a massage from Darren Day.

Imagine her face when she found out that she was also being given a haircut by Steve Strange, it wasn’t pretty!

Thankfully the crew did eventually tell her that it was a wind up, but not before she cried “Oh no! Please! I don’t want anyone doing my hair!� she cried. “I’d rather have an operation! I’d rather bathe in poo!�

To be fair to Nikki, I wouldn’t let any of those eejits loose on my hair either. I actually filled in an application for the show but specifically stated that I would NOT volunteer for a new haircut.

I know the eighties are all back at the minute, but i don’t fancy a rock style mullet thank you very much!

As part of this years Children In Need campaign, BBC Three are in preparations to launch their newest reality TV show Celebrity Scissorhands.

The BBC reports:

Under the tutelage of top hairdresser Lee Stafford, a group of celebrities will train in all elements of hair, beauty and fashion. For two weeks they’ll be working flat-out practising on members of the public and any passing BBC stars in the specially designed hair and beauty academy in the heart of BBC TV Centre in London. On Appeal night, Friday 17 November, we’ll watch the stars back-stage bravely being made up by our novices.

The trainees include:

Steve Strange (80s pop icon)
Michelle Dewbury (winner of The Apprentice)
Scott Mills (Radio 1 DJ)
Emma Samms (actress and Dynasty star)
Richard Fairbrass (Right Said Fred frontman)
Sarah Cawood (TV presenter)
Rowetta (singer Happy Mondays, X Factor)
Ortis Deeley (actor and presenter Kidulthood, Live and Kicking)
Darren Day (TV personality)

Can our celebrities cut it? Or they will get the chop?