Yahoo Lifestyle ‘Come Dine With Me’: Why Enduring 20-Year-Old Format Is “The Quickest Way To Understand The Brits” & How Narrator Dave Lamb Prepares
EXCLUSIVE: “Someone once said the quickest way to understand the Brits is by watching episodes of Come Dine With Me,” says the series editor behind the beloved UK format, which turned 20 last month.
Henry Hainault, who has worked on more than 1000 episodes of Channel 4’s food-cum-relationships-cum-lifestyle show, says Come Dine With Me celebrates British diversity in all its forms. “I think because we go to so many regions around the country it gives you a really good insight,” he adds. “We don’t get into politics because that can be quite divisive so it’s more a case of covering as much of the country as possible. It’s a snapshot.”
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Ramping things up a bit, Dave Lamb, who has narrated almost every single one of the circa-2,500 Come Dine With Me UK episodes, compares the show to Danny Boyle’s memorable London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony. “No one was left behind,” he adds. “This is Britain. Look at all of its aspects.”
Lamb and Hainault speak with Deadline as the ITV Studios property, which has sold to 49 territories to date, turns 20. Produced by MultiStory Media, the series sees five strangers visit each other’s homes over five consecutive nights for a slap-up meal, as they rate each other on food and entertainment, with the winner taking home a cash prize at the end of the week.
Across nearly 2,500 eps, the British version has filmed in 10,604 towns and cities. Most popular dishes include cheesecake, potato dauphinoise and chicken wrapped in parma ham/bacon. Gammon cooked in Fanta, bacon roly poly with cheese custard, squirrel pâté and Irn Bru soup are just some of the strangest. Lamb counts a man who served sushi on the bare chest of another person as his weirdest moment, along with a contestant’s pet snake defecating on a table, while Hainault recalls a host who watered down everyone’s wine glass when he realized he had run out of red.
The show has grown over the years to gain close to cult status and has landed many an international remake along the way. Daytime eps are beloved by students across the country (as this author can attest) but Hainault says the idea has always been to appeal to all and sundry.
“We’re not targeting any demographic specifically,” he says. “I don’t think there are many shows left that can be regarded as family viewing, but [Come Dine With Me] is something for everyone. I know students love it but that is more accidental scheduling than anything else.”
“There’s nothing to be gained by being horrible”
As narrator, Lamb, who has appeared in Goodness, Gracious, Me and Horrible Histories yet rarely does press, has received plaudits down the years for on-point commentary, witty quips and friendly tone, and he is one of few narrators left voicing British formats.
“Channel 4 had made a pilot and said they wanted to try something a bit more experimental,” he says, harking back to first landing the gig in 2004. “I thought I’d do three or four eps and maybe that would be that but it turned into something a bit longer. The first audition we played it straight and it has grown organically over the years.”
Lamb says the small production team have honed his role and are a well-oiled machine, adding in the narration towards the end of filming and giving him plenty space to ad-lib and crack jokes.
Bar a brief period where he was treating the voiceover like a “mad crazy shout fest,” Lamb says he is forever cognisant of the need to make the audience laugh while not insulting or patronizing contestants.
“I get concerned sometimes that it’s poking fun,” he adds. “But it’s gentle teasing. The people on this show are such a diverse range of characters and mad patchwork of personalities who come together. I consider myself almost sitting next to them while at the same time sitting on the sofa with the viewer. There’s nothing to be gained by being horrible or pillorying people.”
The format is cost effective and has barely been altered over the years but it has moved with the times. The 20-year period has seen the advent of social media and with that the introduction of the viral moment, and Come Dine With Me has landed a fair few. No one will forget the infamous “reversing dump truck” sore loser in a hurry, the man who put a whisk in his mouth or the woman who used oven gloves to stir her ‘stir loin steak’ and chips.
These moments are organic, Hainault stress, although he points to a TikTok influencer from a recent episode who “might have been slightly more conscious in terms of viral moments.” “Ultimately we still strive to find five people that wouldn’t normally have dinner together,” adds Hainault. “And some have become incredibly good friends. We know of people who met on Come Dine With Me and 10, 15 years later they are meeting every other month.”
International resurgence
With a low price point and easy-to-sell concept, it’s no wonder Come Dine With Me remains one of ITV Studios’ hottest properties.
Tom Clark, ITVS’ EVP Global Sales & Commercial Strategy, tells Deadline the show “taps into our natural human desire to peek behind closed doors into the lives of others, but with the additional factor of the pressure of hosting a winning dinner party for complete strangers.”
He says different territories retain the “core DNA” of the hit but tailor it for local audiences. For example, while the original UK version “reflects a snapshot of society,” some newer markets dive straight in for the celebrity version, which has performed well in territories like Latin America where it airs on streamer Max.
Come Dine With Me has seen something of an international resurgence of late, selling celebrity versions to Belgium and Mexico, although landing a hit in the U.S. still evades ITV Studios. Versions have aired on both TLC and Lifetime but neither really took off in the vein of English-language success stories like Australia or Canada. “Come Dine With Me is a great human interest show with universal appeal so we’re continuing to look for ways to develop the format for the U.S. market as part of our on-going development slate,” says ITV America boss David George.
The show will be on sale at this week’s London TV Screenings. In its home country, the show’s narrator sees no reason why it can’t keep going and going.
“Twenty more years of shouting at food will do me very nicely,” concludes Lamb, with all the grace of a reversing dump truck without any tyres on.
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