Sainsbury’s and Channel 4 launch groundbreaking cookery show – ‘What’s Cooking? From the Sainsbury’s Kitchen’
Daily, interactive show to air from purpose-built supermarket studio
Series will start in February, fronted by Ben Shephard and Lisa Faulkner
Following on from their successful Paralympics partnership, Sainsbury’s and Channel 4 are working together again to launch an innovative, daily cooking show that will air in late February.
‘What’s Cooking? From the Sainsbury’s Kitchen’ will be presented by Ben Shephard and Lisa Faulkner and will be on Channel 4 every weekday lunchtime. Along with celebrity guests, well known chefs will join the programme to cook up recipes to suit every budget and taste. Every day the programme will feature at least three recipes which aim to offer something for everyone, whether they want to cook something fast, something for less or something surprising. The programme will use Sainsbury’s products alongside other ingredients which will be integrated in a seamless and ground-breaking way.
The programme will air from a purpose built interactive studio at a Sainsbury’s store with a studio audience. The audience at home will also be able to get involved and ask questions through Twitter and Facebook.
“What’s Cooking?” has been developed and produced by Superhero TV, the entertainment production company within Sebastian Scott’s new umbrella indie Predictable Media. The Superhero team will make the programme for Channel 4.
Sainsbury’s Marketing Director Sarah Warby said:
“What’s Cooking? From the Sainsbury’s Kitchen is an engaging, fresh format for a cookery show and we are very excited to be involved in such an innovative programme. We’re delighted to partner with Channel 4 and to be able to talk to our customers in a different way, bringing to life the ways in which Sainsbury’s can help people live well for less.”
Channel 4 Head of Formats, Dominic Bird, said:
“Ben and Lisa are a terrific pairing and we feel the mix of celebrity guests, entertaining chat and cookery on the programme will offer up a compelling menu for our Channel 4 daytime audience.”
The show will air in a weekday lunchtime slot for a planned run of up to 13 weeks. This will be complemented by a range of content online which will help further engage viewers such as videos featuring the recipes which have been on the programme. By visiting the show’s Scrapbook at www.channel4.com/whatscooking viewers will be able to collect and keep all the recipes, videos and information featured in each show from the Sainsbury’s Live Well For Less website.
Ben Shephard said:
“I’m fascinated by people – or nosey as my mum always says, so meeting and chatting with our guests each day will be great. I’m about as useful in the kitchen as a chocolate teapot, but I’m a lover of food so I’m sure I’ll be inspired by all the delicious things that are going to be created.
“Not only is Lisa gorgeous, but she is just so passionate about food, which is really infectious. She makes me want to learn more and try more – I can’t wait to get started with her. I think it will be hilarious, we’re going to have naked flames, food, cooking, live tv and probably more hair spray than could sink a ship – what could possibly go wrong?”
Lisa Faulkner said:
“I love cooking and to be able to work on “What’s Cooking?” dreaming up recipes, creating different food combinations and talking about dishes, is just my perfect job. There are always new things to learn about cooking – so this series is going to be huge amounts of fun, talking to other chefs and being inspired by their menus and love of food.
“Working with Ben is going to be great fun too – he seems to think because of my cooking experience I’m some kind of guru which means the pressure will be on for me to prove him right. But I think he’s a secretly very good cook and that he’ll surprise us!”
Lucas Green of Superhero TV said:
“The partnership between Channel 4 and Sainsbury’s allows us to reach out into viewers’ lives way beyond the TV screen. We will have a deeper relationship with our audience than ever before thanks to the huge number of platforms provided by Sainsbury’s and Channel 4. This represents far more than just a new way to fund programmes – and we hope that it will be a lot of fun too.”
Notes to Editors
Press contacts:
Yvette Edwards, press_office@sainsburys.co.uk; 0207 695 7295
Claire Cumberland, ccumberland@channel4.co.uk; 0207 306 8315
Lisa Faulkner is an actress and presenter who demonstrated her love for cooking when she won Celebrity MasterChef in 2010. She has since cooked regularly at leading restaurants and food shows around the country. On screen, Lisa co-presented Channel 5’s Family Cook Off! with Matt Dawson and is a regular guest chef on ITV1’s ‘This Morning’.
Her debut cookery book, Recipes from my Mother for my Daughter, was a instant hit with both readers and critics alike becoming a No1 Sunday Times bestseller and her follow-up recipe book, The Way I Cook…is due to be published later this year.
Ben Shephard woke up the nation for 10 years on the GMTV sofa. As well as presenting ‘What’s Cooking?’, he is now an anchor at Sky Sports, covering the Champions League and Carling Cup as well as co-presenting Goals On Sunday. He loves endurance and extreme sports, and his sense of adventure has often led him to take on some amazing and gruelling challenges to raise awareness for the special causes he supports. Over the past 10 years, Ben has completed 14 marathons, run across the UK twice, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with Gary Barlow, Chris Moyles and Cheryl Cole, been through three months of intensive boxing training at The Fitzroy Lodge and played for England at Soccer Aid.
Sainsbury’s has been helping customers Live Well For Less with a dedicated website which has tips and recipes. All the recipes and other content from the ‘What’s Cooking? In the Sainsbury’s kitchen’ programme will be available on the website http://www.sainsburys-live-well-for-less.co.uk/