By Anushka Asthana, Political Correspondent
Britain's political leaders will take part in a series of televised election programmes, including a seven-way debate, and starting with a live question and answer session hosted by Sky News and Channel 4.
David Cameron and Ed Miliband will both appear in the first event, held on Thursday 26 March and jointly presented by Kay Burley and Jeremy Paxman, but there will be no head-to-head as originally proposed by the broadcasters.
The only full debate will be on 2 April, and hosted by ITV, involving seven party leaders including those from UKIP, the Greens, the SNP and Plaid Cymru.
:: Be part of the studio audience
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has not been invited to a third event to be held on 16 April that will see all the "opposition" leaders clash.
However, he will be part of a final question time session on 30 April, one week before polling day, in which the leaders of the Lib Dems, Conservatives and Labour will be separately grilled by a studio audience.
Although the leaders will all turn up at the events, a number have expressed frustration about the process and the final outcome.
A Labour source said it was "ludicrous" that Mr Cameron and Mr Miliband would attend the same programme and take questions from the same audience, but not debate face-to-face. They accused the Prime Minister of "cowardice" for dodging a head to head.
A Lib Dem source said the process had been a "farce" but said the party had always been clear that Mr Clegg would turn up to any debates that he was invited to.
He accused other parties, led by the Conservatives, of trying to "duck" the clashes, and admitted he would have preferred it if the Lib Dem leader was invited to the debate between opposition leaders.
That event was proposed originally as a "challengers debate", excluding the Conservatives, Labour, and Lib Dems, but it is understood that Mr Miliband insisted on taking part.
However, the Lib Dems were not also invited - perhaps because that would appear to empty chair the Prime Minister.
Nigel Farage, the UKIP leader, launched a tirade on twitter, writing: "#TVdebates are now so far from the original proposals. Broadcasters should be ashamed. They've kowtowed to manipulation from Downing Street."
He added: "Public deserve proper #TVdebates but now fobbed off, playing into hands of 1 party. It's a smack in the face of democracy and I am appalled."
He and others felt too much had been compromised for the Prime Minister since the first proposal from broadcasters for a two-way, three-way and four-way debate, including Labour, the Tories, Lib Dems and UKIP.
Mr Cameron started by insisting on the Green party taking part, leading to a new proposal including two seven-way debates. He then said that he would not take part in events during the short election campaign.
Although he had said a head-to-head debate was credible, he finally said he would only sign up to one multi-party debate before the campaign starts on Monday 30 March.
A Number 10 source was happy with the final result.
"If anything, this is an improvement on the deal we were offered last week. The PM has always believed too many debates would suck the life out of the campaign. In all these formats, we are confident the choice between competence and chaos will be clear," he said.
John Ryley, Head of Sky News, said: "We are extremely pleased that the Conservative and Labour party leaders have agreed to take part in a programme that will kick start the election campaign and put the two people most likely to be the next Prime Minister under scrutiny in front of millions of viewers across the UK."
The event that will most closely resemble the 2010 election debates will be held on 2 April, and aired on ITV.
But instead of including just three leaders it will have seven, including Nick Clegg, Nigel Farage, the Greens' Natalie Bennett, SNP's Nicola Sturgeon and Leanne Wood from Plaid Cymru.
A spokesperson for the broadcasters said: "We're delighted that there will be a debate with all the party leaders during the election campaign. The debate on 2nd April will build on the success of the 2010 TV debates which were so highly valued by viewers.
"We're very pleased to be able to offer viewers an extensive range of programmes, across the four channels, featuring the party leaders interacting directly with voters during the campaign."
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