New role’s just for starters
THE Big Family Cooking Showdown is back. Except it’s not called that any more. It’s now just called FAMILY COOKING SHOWDOWN (BBC2, 7pm). I’m guessing, then, that BBC executives had one of their meetings, or probably several, in which they reassessed this programme’s status:
“Are we really sure it’s ‘big’, chaps? I mean, it didn’t do that well in the ratings last time.”
“Hmm, good point. And now I think about it, that word is also shockingly ambiguous. What if viewers thought we meant the families themselves were big? You know, as if we were fat shaming them?”
“Oh, goodness, yes, wouldn’t that be awful? Right, well, that settles it. As of now we’re renaming this show. Everyone agreed? Great. The Small Family Cooking Showdown it is. “Any other business…?” Which actually, yes, there must have been. Because at some point during these discussions they also decided to dump the show’s original hosts, Zoë Ball and Nadiya Hussain, plus its hugely respected judges, Rosemary Shrager and Giorgio Thingummybob, and draft in just two replacements to fulfil both roles.
Hence this new version, going out nightly, is hosted and judged by Angellica Bell (right) and Tommy Banks. Angellica you may recall, was last year’s Celebrity MasterChef champion, while Tommy, a little disappointingly, is the Michelin-star chef of that name, rather than the former Bolton Wanderers left-back.
Ultimately, though, the main bit hasn’t changed all that radically. Each episode starts with four food-loving families preparing to go head-to-head then ends with one lot being told to go home because their food isn’t very nice. Admittedly, it’s worded a wee bit more politely than that.
Tonight’s contestants, since you ask, are the Whites, the Stones, the Abimbola-Younges and the Penmans. The Stones, who are siblings, are passionate vegans, their outlook neatly and succinctly summed up by big sister Natalie: “We’ve got enough tools in our minds to keep the situation real and understand that what we’re doing is what we’re doing and it is what it is and we’re in the moment so just deal with it.” Well, exactly. From a show that’s lost two words from its title to a show that has managed to gain a pair, AUTUMNWATCH NEW ENGLAND (BBC2, 8pm) finds the regular gang broadcasting for the next four nights from the shores of Squam Lake in New Hampshire.
I’m not entirely sure why they’re doing this, except apparently the leaves over there turn all sorts of pretty colours at this time of year. I guess that’ll do as a reason. Also, we might spot the odd black bear or random moose which, frustratingly, just wasn’t happening while the show was based in Gloucestershire. Finally, there’s a new panel game starting tonight called FOR FACTS SAKE (BBC1, 9.30pm) hosted by Brendan O’Carroll from Mrs Brown’s Boys. Co-stars from that show also captain the teams, alongside audience members. Turns out it’s basically a dumbed-down QI with lots of swearing. The title was a clue.