The BBC has scoured the world for fresh ideas and is now preparing to take its audiences to perhaps the global nadir of lowbrow entertainment: a Japanese shame show.

The corporation has bought the rights to screen the pratfalls and celebrity humiliations of certain segments of Tunnels no minnasan no okage deshita, a show that epitomises the television genre in which custard pies, eating contests and buckets of maggots remain essential props. It is scheduled to be broadcast in mid September.

TheTunnels show, which features an ever-changing cavalcade of ridiculous games and gut-churning pranks, is the prime-time jewel in the crown of Tokyo’s most popular television station. It is now in its eleventh year and is watched by millions. It was described by one Japanese television critic as “deeply compelling rubbish”.

It includes a segment where a large mechanical wall with a shape cut out of it advances on a celebrity. Unless the victim is able to contort himself into precisely the right pose to pass through the hole, he or she is shoved into a pool of water.

It was this segment that appealed so strongly to the BBC, say Fuji Television executives, who sold the concept to the Russians and South Koreans last year. A BBC spokeswoman defended the corporation yesterday against suggestions that it might be dumbing down, adding that the BBC screened everything from talent shows to musicals. “We are obliged to have something for everyone. Some people accuse us of being too highbrow,” she said.

The BBC is understood to have produced 11 episodes of the show. But, like other foreign media buyers who have dabbled in Japanese television concepts, it has not bought the rights to everything on the Tunnelsshow. Japanese television remains a preserve of sexism, ageism, exploitation and bullying that continue to astonish most foreigners exposed to it. “Major foreign TV broadcasters rarely use programmes produced in Japan in their entirety,” a Fuji TV official admits.

The BBC’s deal comes at a time when even long-term enthusiasts of Japanese television agree that standards are daily plumbing new depths. “Just when you think Japanese television is not going to go any sicker or lower,” says W. M. Penn, a television critic for the Yomiuri newspaper, “it goes one sicker and lower.”

But after years of insularity and pure domestic focus, Fuji Television is starting to realise the international commercial value that its vast menu of lowbrow entertainment now commands. In 2004 it sold a cooking contest idea to the US that became marketed as the Iron Chef.

The BBC was forced on to the defensive last year to deny reports that it planned to dumb down its shows after discovering that lower-income families were not tuning in. BBC research allegedly showed that high earners were more likely to watch its channels, while its staff felt that programmes such as Panorama were “too serious”.

When a new licence fee was announced in January last year, the BBC was warned by Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, that it would have to invest in “high-quality content”.

However, Mark Thompson, the Director-General of the BBC, said that the lower-than-expected settlement meant “tough choices” for the corporation. He added: “I don’t believe that you’re going to see a sudden burst of repeats on BBC One. We know that the public expect outstanding, original programmes.”

In January Crimewatch’s new presenter, Kirsty Young, 39, denied that her recruitment represented a dumbing down of the programme. She was embroiled in an ageism row after being brought in to replace the veteran hosts Nick Ross and Fiona Bruce. Last year critics also charged the BBC with catering for the “lowest common denominator” after plans to broadcast a 60-second news summary were revealed.

Even the BBC Proms has not been above the controversy. Critics cried foul in April last year after it was announced that the 113th season would dedicate an evening to show tunes performed by Michael Ball. Many traditional Prommers were unimpressed by the news that Ball would become the first West End singer to appear at the annual event, a highlight of the classical music calendar.

Editor's choice

• U2 at Nou Camp Stadium, Barcelona
• The 50 Best Movie Villains
• The 15 golden rules of theatre etiquette