Jonathan Ross to present cookery panel show pilot
Jonathan Ross is working on a new TV comedy project.
The chat show host will front the pilot episode of a new comedy panel show based around food.
Currently known by the development title of The Jonathan Ross Cookery Panel Show, the format is being dubbed as a "comedy panel show based around the art of food, the skill of cooking and the enormous fun of eating", which will offer viewers a "mouth watering, light-hearted celebration of food in all its forms".
The producers say the show is "presented by the well known food lover Jonathan Ross (you didn't know? Just look at that expanding waistline...) who each week welcomes two teams of celebrity contestants, hungry to compete in a series of rounds designed to test their knowledge of food as well their skill in preparing it and their courage when it comes to what they will or won't put in their mouths".
They add: "We will also be welcoming a diverse selection of guest experts to demonstrate their weird and wonderful - and extremely tricky - food skills for our non-chefs to attempt to copy.
"From the highest of high cuisine to the most basic but yummy of comfort food, from our fast-food favourites and the comfort food we turn to when we need a boost to the most delicious and expensive treats that are saved for the most special of occasions. In short, if you can stuff it into your mouth, it will be on the show.
"There will be cooking, there will be eating, there will be a little bit of dressing up and an all you can eat buffet of fascinating and fun food facts from around the world. It will be entertaining of course, but also show respect and even reverence for the food itself and the brilliant women and men who make it. And if you don't need to order a take away when it's finished we won't have done our job."
The trial episode, which is thought not to be for broadcast but will be used by executives to work out whether to order a series, will be filmed at ITV's The London Studios on Tuesday 28th April. To apply to be in the audience see our free tickets page
ITV has been seeking a panel show format for Jonathan Ross to star in for some time now. In 2012 he fronted run-throughs for Trending Topics, a panel show based around Twitter. Then, in 2013, the network piloted the topical show Oh What A Week! with Ross as a team captain.
The Jonathan Ross Show has run for 8 series on ITV so far. Another series, which will see the show pass the 100 episode mark, is due to be filmed later in the year.