Chef and best selling author Lorraine Pascale joins Sky Living HD’s impressive talent line up for 2013

Sky Living HD commissions Seven Network's hit format, My Kitchen Rules

 
10 x 60’

London, Thursday 28th February, 2013:  Sky Living HD announces the commission of “My Kitchen Rules”, the competition that pits rival couples against each other to find Britain and Ireland’s most exceptional home cooks. Chef and best- selling author Lorraine Pascale has been signed by the channel to co-host and judge the UK version of “My Kitchen Rules”, the smash-hit competitive cooking format from Australia’s Seven Network, to be produced in the UK by Boundless (part of FremantleMedia UK).   

Pascale has an impressive CV when it comes to cooking, having worked in some of the world’s leading restaurants, from Petrus to The Mandarin Oriental, Gilgamesh and The Wolseley. In 2011 Pascale presented her first TV cookery show, Baking Made Easy (BBC Two), which proved to be a huge hit for the channel. She has also sold over a million cookery books and will continue to present for the BBC.

Amateur cooking couples representing England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales with a real flair for cooking, will first have to compete in their homes to see who can whip up the most mouth-watering dishes. Then the judges will put couples through a series of more complicated challenges catering for the public before facing elimination “cook offs” in the MKR studio.

At the heart of the show are six couples; husbands and wives, mothers and daughters, best friends, siblings or neighbours. Over ten weeks, their relationships, recipes, and cooking skills will be put to the test. There will be passion, tears and triumphs as they battle against the clock and each other to plate up outstanding menus and prove whose kitchen rules.

The show will be produced by Boundless (part of FremantleMedia UK) and has been commissioned by Michele Kurland, Head of Factual Entertainment, Sky.  

 

“My Kitchen Rules” is a home-grown Seven Network production and has built a huge following, growing year-on-year, since it premiered in 2010. As part of the deal, Sky Living has also acquired the Australian version.

Lorraine Pascale commented; “I’d like to thank Sky for giving me the opportunity to work on the UK version of this massively successful show.  It’s an exciting new venture for me and I’m looking forward to stepping  back from the oven for My Kitchen Rules and judging other peoples’ efforts and taste their meals instead!”

Antonia Hurford-Jones, Director Sky Living HD: “My Kitchen Rules is the perfect entertainment show for Sky Living HD. We’re really excited about giving people who have a genuine passion for cooking an exclusive opportunity to showcase their skills in the kitchen with a competitive edge. Lorraine Pascale, with all her amazing credentials, will be the perfect co-host and I couldn’t be more delighted she is joining the high calibre of names coming to the channel. My Kitchen Rules is authentic, engaging and entertaining and I can’t wait for our customers to see it.”

Michele Kurland, Head of Factual Entertainment, Sky adds: “My Kitchen Rules is a brilliant new format for Sky Living HD. The combination of having such a great show with Lorraine Pascale is very exciting for the channel. This is about celebrating the very best of home cooking. We've come a long way in recent years and home cooks are more ambitious than ever. However, cooking to impress is stressful. Especially with someone you know well and when you're preparing for the most important dinner party of your life.”

Patrick Holland, Managing Director of Boundless added: “At Boundless we are very excited to be making My Kitchen Rules for Sky Living HD. It’s a series with a real sense of scale and ambition that will combine great stories of everyday cooks with high production values.”

“My Kitchen Rules” will form part of Sky Living HD’s jam-packed schedule over the next 18 months, as it enters an exciting phase under its newly appointed channel Director, Antonia Hurford-Jones.

By 2014, Sky expects to invest £600 million a year in British programmes across its portfolio of channels. This commitment follows the success of home-grown content such as entertainment shows including: Got To Dance, the factual series An Idiot Abroad 3, dramas Mad Dogs and Treasure Island, and the BAFTA-winning documentary Flying Monsters 3D

 

“My Kitchen Rules” is due to go into production in spring and will be Executive Produced by Charlotte Desai for Sky and Cate Hall from Boundless.

 

If you’re Interested in taking part, visit the Sky Living Online website (http://skyliving.sky.com/) for further information.

Notes to editor

For further information please contact:

Elena Kemp

Publicist – Sky Living HD

0207 032 1495 / 07894 500 595

elena.kemp@bskyb.com

www.skypressoffice.co.uk

Follow us on twitter @sky_livingPR

Rowan Adams

Senior Publicist – Sky Living HD

0207 032 3078 / 07850 776 348

Rowan.adams@bskyb.com

Note to Editors

About Sky

Sky is the UK and Ireland’s leading home entertainment and communications company.  Around 40% of all homes have a direct relationship with Sky through its range of TV, broadband and home telephony services.

Sky is the UK’s biggest investor in television content, investing more than £2.3 billion a year in channels such as Sky 1, Sky Atlantic, Sky Living, Sky Arts, Sky Sports, Sky Movies and Sky News.   Around two-thirds of Sky’s content spend is invested in the UK and Sky is the fastest-growing source of investment in original British programmes.  More than 30 million people watch Sky content each week.

Alongside its commitment to offering customers a greater choice of high-quality content, Sky is a leading innovator.  Customers enjoy total control and flexibility over their favourite TV through Sky+, watch TV on the move through Sky Go, and enjoy the best quality TV experience at home through High Definition and 3D.  

Sky distributes its content broadly over several platforms, including satellite, cable, IPTV, mobile and WiFi.  NOW TV, Sky’s second consumer brand, builds on the company’s leadership in internet TV.  Sky is also the UK's fastest-growing home communications company and favourite ‘triple-play’ provider of TV, broadband and home phone.

Sky believes in making a wider contribution to the communities in which it operates by taking positive action on the environment, supporting grassroots sports and increasing access to, and participation in, the arts.  Sky employs 23,000 people, has annual revenues of £6.8 billion and is estimated to support a £5.4 billion contribution to UK GDP.  Sky is listed on the London Stock Exchange (BSY).  www.sky.com/corporate

About Boundless (part of FremantleMedia UK)

Encompassing factual entertainment, factual features and specialist factual programming, including The Apprentice, Young Apprentice, Escape To The Country, Great British Railway Journeys, Grand Designs and Four Rooms,  Boundless is FremantleMedia UK's factual label.  FremantleMedia UK is the UK production arm of FremantleMedia, the global production and content business of the RTL Group, Europe’s largest television and radio company.  FremantleMedia UK, comprises of a group of labels, Talkback, Retort, Boundless, Thames and Newman Street, which produce some of the UK’s most successful shows - the Group has aired over 450 hours of programming on terrestrial TV in the past 12 months alone.