Good Food

UKTV sends Masterchef's John Torode to Asia

John Torode’s Asia sees the TV chef embark on an incredible culinary adventure across the continent. In each of the locations, Torode seeks out local culinary experts and explores the tasty offerings of each of the regions. Along the way he visits the largest free kitchen in the world, learns what goes into cooking a Peking Duck, and spends time with a traditional Maldivian family.

UKTV celebrates record-breaking year

Dave Gorman Modern Life is Goodish

Last year saw UKTV deliver a 9.27% share of social impacts (SOCI), putting it marginally ahead of Sky’s branded channels (9.25%) and Channel 5’s portfolio (9.26%).

The results follow a big drive by the broadcaster to commission more original content. Storage Hunters UK Celebrity Special and Dave Gorman Modern Life is Goodish received UKTV’s highest ratings last year. Meanwhile comedy gameshow Taskmaster and sitcom Marley’s Ghosts also contributed to a boost in audience share.

Fair play at UKTV

Darren Childs UKTV

Five years ago, UKTV was seen as the home of the BBC’s archive shows and the owner of a channel called Dave. Everyone in the industry thought Dave was named after the company’s former CEO, David Abraham.

Fast forward to today. The 300-strong company that began life as a multichannel archive business 20 years ago has grown. It now runs 11 channels, ranging from natural-history channel Eden to Good Food, and has a commercial television market share of 9.3%.

Tips in 60 seconds... How to find your audience

You've thought of a programme idea, you're about to write a winning pitch but first you need to think of your audience. Tailoring content to specific demographics is highly important in television. Clare Laycock explains how to do it.

Clare is Head of Channel TLC at Discovery Networks UK & Ireland. Previously Clare headed up Really, Home and Good Food at UKTV so she knows a thing or two about making great TV for specific audiences.