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The Big Family Cooking Showdown
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Reality · 2017

The Big Family Cooking Showdown

BBC Two cooking contest where families compete to be crowned Britain's top home cooks.

Starring Giorgio Locatelli· Zoë Ball· Nadiya Hussain
Overview

Giorgio Locatelli and Rosemary Shrager judged sixteen families through three rounds in a converted Kent barn during the first series, while Zoë Ball and Nadiya Hussain handled presentation duties and the home-visit challenge that required contestants to cook a three-course meal for twenty guests in their own kitchens.

The format shifted completely for the second run: Angellica Bell and Tommy Banks replaced the original presenters and doubled as judges, production decamped to Wales, teams swelled from two to four per heat, and the programme abandoned the home visit in favour of studio-based challenges including a 90-minute mass-catering test for 30 emergency-service workers.

BBC Two burned off both series in weekday afternoon slots, yet the first run still managed to peak at 1.4 million viewers when the Charles family beat the Karims to the £1,000 prize and the plastic trophy, while the second run, stripped across four weeks in autumn 2018, quietly expired with fewer than 800,000 watching the final. Voltage TV has not attempted a revival.

Production Details

BBC Two / 2 Seasons / 26 Episodes / 2017

Main Cast

Giorgio Locatelli as Self - Judge

Zoë Ball as Self - Presenter

Nadiya Hussain as Self - Presenter

Rosemary Shrager as Self - Judge

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Kip Ford
Kip Ford
TV Critic & Editorial Director
Kip Ford is Editorial Director at TV Reference. His encyclopedic knowledge spans every era of television history, with particular expertise in British and American drama, crime, and the golden age of network TV.