MasterChef

The joy of food programmes

The Great British Bake Off 2018 winner Rahul Mandal (Credit: Channel 4)

With 87 days’ worth of cookery shows airing during the past year on UK terrestrial television – made up of 410 unique titles – the RTS event “Why we love… food” was appositely named.

Revealing the facts to an audience hungry for knowledge about the genre, Pritesh Mody, founder of artisan food producer World of Zing, chaired the late-May event on the day it emerged that Jamie Oliver’s UK restaurant chain had gone into administration.

Why We Love…Food

Tanya Shaw, Melissa Hemsley, Pritesh Mody, Nisha Katona, Sarah Lazenby (Credit: Phil Lewis/RTS)

Speaking at RTS event Why We Love…Food Channel 4 head of features and formats Sarah Lazenby said she had a meeting on Tuesday about the children’s version of the hit series, Great British Bake Off, which has followed its parent to the commercial broadcaster.

When asked how Channel 4 would make Junior Bake Off its own, Lazenby said “We’re really excited that’s coming to us. Obviously we’re not a children’s broadcaster…16-34 year olds is our target but…there’s a format that’s there but there’s also a Channel 4 tone.”

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.

This week's top TV: 20 - 26 June

Monday

Eurotrash

Channel 4

11.30pm

Antoine de Caunes and Jean Paul Gaultier return to British television almost ten years after the original series of Eurotrash last aired. The comic duo take an irreverent look at European fashion, art, music, and, most significanlty, politics. Three days before the EU referendum, there is no better way to  remember what it means to be part of the continent.

Profile: Lucinda Hicks, COO at Endemol Shine

The world of television production can, to quote Digital UK Chief Executive Jonathan Thompson, "sometimes be somewhat sniffy about strategy folk".

With this in mind, he says Lucinda Hicks' success in becoming Endemol Shine UK's Chief Operating Officer is doubly impressive.

He hired Hicks to work with his team at Channel 4 in 2008, when he was its Strategy Director.