BBC orders “Food and Drink,” Dara O Briain series

October 18, 2012 by Kevin Ritchie

BBC Worldwide

BBC Worldwide Channels has ordered international versions of its recently revived culinary series Food and Drink and the science magazine format Dara O Briain’s Science Club, to air on BBC Lifestyle and BBC Knowledge respectively.

The original series are the first coproductions with UK terrestrial BBC2 since VP of commissioning Tracy Forsyth unveiled a plan to treble the number of original hours ordered for BBC Knowledge, BBC Entertainment, BBC Lifestyle and UKTV, BBC’s general entertainment channel in Australia and New Zealand. The goal is to increase the channels’ original hours to 100 by 2014.

Food and Drink (6 x 30-minutes) will be the first original production to air on BBC Lifestyle. A revamped version of the 1980s series about the latest trends from the culinary world, it stars chef Michael Roux and will begin airing globally in spring 2013.

Also due to air in 2013 is Dara O Briain’s Science Club (6 x 50-minutes). Each episode of the BBC Knowledge series takes a single subject, such as sex, brain chemistry, music and extinction, and examines it from unexpected angles. O Briain is an Irish comedian whose television credits include Mock the Week, Qi, Live At The Apollo and Dara Ó Briain: School of Hard Sums.

Tags: BBC Worldwide, BBC Worldwide Channels, BBC2, Dara O Briain's Science Club, Food and Drink, Tracy Forsyth