This slow-starting series is both beautifully shot and engagingly presented.
The show centres around the ways food is prepared around the world and the role that food, and eating, impact us on a social, cultural and personal level. Each of the four episodes is named after one of the classical elements (earth, air, fire and water) and examines how these four elements form the basis of every meal that we eat.
The immensely popular show returned to our screens in early February, welcoming back tormented police woman Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) and TV’s most feared man, James Norton as rapist Tommy Lee Royce.
Last month, a media storm broke out about a landmark change in children’s TV viewing habits. It was widely reported that, for the first time, “young people are spending more time online than watching TV”, according to “The Monitor Report 2016” by Childwise.
This was quickly challenged by Thinkbox, the marketing body for commercial television. But it highlighted some fundamental questions about the rapidly changing landscape of TV, online and mobile viewing:
To many adults, the choice of viewing options for children is as incomprehensible as the whistling language of The Clangers. There is now a myriad of platforms, apps and subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) services offering access to children’s shows. They include Amazon, Netflix, Freeview Play, YouView and Sky Go.
Children can watch their favourite CBBC shows, such as The Next Step, via the BBC iPlayer – or catch up with Nickelodeon brands, such as SpongeBob SquarePants, on the app Nick Play.
Speaking at an RTS Early Evening Event Davey said that despite the proliferation of ways of watching content linear channels would continue to survive.
“Channels will always be around. | cannot see a future where they don’t exist,” said Davey, a pay TV veteran who was part of the team that helped establish the pioneering satellite broadcaster in the early 1990s.
“There is a revolution going on but it’s happening a lot slower than people think…
The reboot is part of the platform's push into original kids television. The shows join the network’s own children's programmes and in-house production Turbo Fast.
Other programmes include Beverly Hills and Inspector Gadget.
Next year more kids' shows will include The Greenhouse which is a live action series set in an elite boarding school in America. Joining this programme will be Hasbro Studio’s first programme for Netflix, Stretch Armstrong.
Introducing the commissions, Channel 4’s Head of Drama Piers Wenger promised “a consistent presence of topical, entertaining drama across the schedule.”
Wenger also gave a nod to the production partners on the shows. In a recent interview with Broadcast magazine, he forecasted that next year at least 80% of Channel 4’s peak-time drama output would be co-produced.
Available on All 4
Live television remains the most popular way of watching TV in the UK despite a large drop of 4.9% in 2013-14, research by Ofcom shows.
As many as 70% (31m) of UK adults will be watching on demand television this month from free-to-air providers such as BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub and All 4. This figure places the UK ahead of all other major European countries, as well as big TV consuming nations Australia, Japan and the USA.
Publisher Penguin Random House has recently announced the promotion of executive Richard Haines to Head of Acquisitions and TV Development.
Haines' promotion earlier this week marked a shift in the publisher’s approach to the children’s entertainment market.
Richard Haines previously worked on the successful children’s TV show Puffin Rock which was the publisher’s first venture into television. It was broadcast across the world, in Europe, Australia and on Netflix in multiple territories including Japan and the US.
