The new series of Celebrity Big Brother will start tonight when a string of female celebrities will enter the famous house.

CBB bosses have confirmed that it will be a female-only house, to commemorate 100 years since women won the right to vote in the UK.

However, in true Big Brother style fans can expect plenty of twists and turns along the way - including male celebrities being introduced later on in the series.

Boris Johnson's sister Rachel, was the first contestant to be confirmed in December and today a host of other famous faces have been announced, including former Tory politician Ann Widdecombe.

CBB will kick off tonight at 9pm on Channel 5. The launch show will finish at 10.30pm and then Rylan Clark-Neal will host Celebrity Big Brother's Bit On The Side from 11.35pm.

Here is the official line-up, as well as other stars rumoured to be entering the house.

Confirmed celebrities

Rachel Johnson

Big Brother announced Rachel will be appearing in this year's series just before Christmas on its official Twitter page.

The post read: "We can confirm that journalist @RachelSJohnson will be one of the female Celebrity Big Brother housemates entering the House live at 9pm, Tuesday 2nd January on @channel5_tv #CBB."

The 52-year-old journalist also confirmed the news in her column for the Mail on Sunday, writing: "I'm going into the actual Big Brother House. For real. I know. Believe me, I know.

"I am a firm believer that you only regret the things in life you don't do, not the things you do do."

Rachel will be following in her father Stanley's footsteps, who recently appeared in I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here on ITV.

Ann Widdecombe

Sources exclusively revealed to the Mirror Online the 70-year-old would be stepping into the house this evening after a last minute signing.

The former politician is no stranger to reality TV, and was a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing in in 2010, where she was the ninth celebrity to be eliminated from the competition with her professional dance partner Anton Du Beke.

More recently, Ann appeared in Sugar Free Farm on ITV alongside Gemma Collins and Peter Davison.

The celebrities rumoured to be entering the house

Malika Haqq

Khloe Kardashian’s best pal Malika Haqq, 34, has reportedly been spotted at Heathrow Airport ahead of the show’s launch, according to the Mirror Online .

Malika, who has been close friends with Khloe Kardashian since they were 15, is believed to have been paid a "huge amount” to appear on the series.

The move comes after Kim’s close pal, Jonathan Cheban , entered CBB in 2016, but he ended up quitting after life in the house became too much.

Charlotte Leslie

The ex-Tory MP is rumoured to have secured a six-figure sum for her appearance in the show.

Charlotte, 39, will follow in a long line of MPs who have swapped Westminster for reality TV, including Ed Balls who appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in 2016, Tory MP Michael Fabricant who was on a celebrity edition of First Dates and George Galloway who was in CBB in 2006 - he was most remembered for his imitation of a cat pretending to lick cream out of the hands of actress Rula Lenska.

Shobna Gulati

The former Coronation Street actress was said to be in talks with show bosses at the end of 2017.

Speaking to the Mirror Online, an insider said: "Producers have been arranging a meeting with Shobna's agents in hope of getting her on the show.

"Nothing is confirmed yet but they're very interested."

As well as playing Sunita Alahan in the popular ITV soap, the 51-year-old also appeared in Victoria Wood's Dinnerladies.

Sinitta

The 80s pop star, who is famously known as Simon Cowell's ex-girlfriend, is rumoured to be entering the house tonight.

Sinitta, 54, has regularly appeared on the X Factor during the Judges' Houses part of the competition, where she has helped the music mogul choose which hopefuls will go through to the next round.

At the beginning of September the singer confirmed she will be releasing an autobiography, detailing her rise to fame as well as her high profile romances, which include Brad Pitt as well as Simon.

India Willoughby

India, 51, is the first transgender newscaster in Britain and has appeared on Loose Women to talk about her experience of transitioning.

She was born as Jonathan Willoughby and has worked as a TV reporter at ITV Border, as well as being a news presenter in the North East and Cumbria.

The men . . .

These are the men rumoured to be going in to the house later on in the series:

Pete Wicks

The Only Way Is Essex (TOWIE) regular, 29, could be swapping his glamorous lifestyle for a stint on the show.

Pete split with his girlfriend Megan McKenna this year and their messy break-up was heavily documented on TOWIE.

Megan, 25, was a contestant on CBB in 2016 and was briefly removed from the house after a foul-mouthed rant directed at fellow housemates Tiffany Pollard and John Partridge.

Jonny Mitchell

Another Essex native, Jonny rose to fame as a contestant on ITV's Love Island this summer - and it's believed that Channel 5 show bosses want him to spice things up in the house.

The 26-year-old didn't go down well with Love Island viewers when he dumped fan-favourite Camilla Thurlow in last year's series.

Jonny recently split up with Made In Chelsea star Stephanie Pratt.

Andrew Brady

The 26-year-old appeared on The Apprentice this year, and was fired in week eight of the series. He currently works in the in the aerospace industry.