A new spin-off series of Come Dine With Me is on the hunt for chefs and restaurateurs in Greater Manchester.
Come Dine With Me: The Professionals is a new twist on the classic daytime reality show.
It will see hospitality professionals, rather than amateur home cooks, battle it out to be crowned the best independent restaurant in their city.
Each self-contained episode will feature three local restaurants competing for a cash prize to be shared amongst the staff.
Due to air later this year, the programme will be formatted in a similar way to Four In A Bed, with two people from each restaurant representing the whole business.
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The hit show is on the hunt for restaurants. Credit: Channel 4
The competitors will dine in each other’s restaurants during a normal service and mark their experience out of 20.
Come Dine With Me: The Professionals will still be narrated by the iconic voice of Dave Lamb.
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Simone Haywood from MultiStory Media, which produces the show, said: “Come Dine With Me: The Professionals pays homage to one of the nation’s most-loved industries.
“We’re looking forward to heading across the country to meet some of the UK’s best restaurateurs and chefs in this new twist on our classic format.”
Come Dine With Me. Credit: Multi Story Media
MultiStory Media’s CEO Tim Carter said: “For 15 glorious years, we’ve been celebrating the culinary creations and epic fails that pour forth from the Nation’s home kitchens.
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“Now, as they recover from the battering of the last couple of years, Come Dine With Me cheers on Britain’s restaurants with its customary love note to gastronomic endeavour.”
Channel 4’s Jo Street added: “Come Dine With Me continues to be one of Channel 4’s best loved programmes with many memorable dinners served all over the UK in over 2,000 episodes.
“CDWM: The Professionals promises to really raise the stakes and we’re delighted to dish up this new extension on Channel 4 in 2022 to complement existing favourites Come Dine With Me and Couples Come Dine With Me.”
If you own or work in a Greater Manchester restaurant that would like to take part in Come Dine With Me: The Professionals, email [email protected].
Featured image: Channel 4
TV & Showbiz
Iconic Manc movie 24 Hour Party People is set to return to cinemas for its anniversary
Emily Sergeant
One of Manchester’s most iconic movies is set to return to the big screen next month.
Remastered in 4K and returning to UK cinemas to mark 24 years since its original release, Michael Winterbottom’s 2002 biographical comedy drama film, 24 Hour Party People, tells the story of Manchester‘s popular music community from 1976 to 1992 – specifically about Factory Records‘ founder Tony Wilson.
The film begins with the punk rock era of the late 1970s, before moving through the 1980s into the rave and DJ culture, and of course, the ‘Madchester‘ scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The narrative largely follows the career of Tony Wilson, played by Middleton-born actor Steve Coogan, while also covering the careers of the major Factory Records artists – especially Joy Division and New Order, as well as A Certain Ratio, The Durutti Column, and Happy Mondays.
If you haven’t seen 24 Hour Party People before, it’s a dramatisation based on a combination of real events, rumours, and urban legends, as the film is sure to make clear.
Coogan is joined by a cast by a mixture of big names and, at the time, rising stars like Paddy Considine, Shirley Henderson, Lennie James, John Simm, Ralf Little, Andy Serkis, Sean Harris, John Thomson, and even Peter Kay, alongside cameos from other figures connected to the Manchester music scene.
Before it returns to cinemas, the film will first open music and media festival/conference, Beyond The Music, at MediaCity in Salford on 6 October.
The screening at the festival will also be followed by a Q&A with Coogan, Winterbottom, and producer Andrew Eaton.
24 Hour Party People will then be re-released in UK cinemas from 9 October, and you can check your local cinema for screening times and book tickets online now.
Featured Image – Altitude
TV & Showbiz
Bury actress Kate O’Flynn wins big at 2026 Emmys with record-breaking comedy show
Emily Sergeant
Did you know that one of the big winners at the 2026 Emmy Awards last night was actually an actress from Bury?
In case it wasn’t on your radar, American television‘s biggest night, the Emmys, took place yesterday evening over in Los Angeles, and several records were broken in the process – including Apple TV’s comedy horror Widow’s Bay taking home the most Emmys ever for a single series of a comedy show, with 14 of them.
Widow’s Bay tells the story of mayor Tom Loftis, played by Welsh actor Matthew Rhys, who is trying to boost tourism on his rugged New England island, but must navigate several strange events that suggest it might be cursed.
Created by Katie Dippold, and executive produced and directed by Hiro Murai, Widow’s Bay was released in late April to widespread critical acclaim.
At the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards last night, the show scooped a record 14 awards, including for Outstanding Comedy Series, several acting wins, and wins for directing and writing too.
One of those acting wins was Kate O’Flynn for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series – an actress who hails from the Greater Manchester town of Bury.
Kate stars as Patricia Moyer, mayor Tom’s eccentric assistant in the show.
She grew up in Holcombe Brook near Ramsbottom, and was educated at Bury Grammar School, before she went on to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Acting in 2006.
Taking to the stage to accept her award last night, Kate said in her speech: “I want to thank our mayor [Matthew Rhys] and all the residents of Widow’s Bay, in front and behind the camera – you’re amazing. This is the role of a lifetime, thank you Katie and Hiro for trusting a Lancashire lass to play a sassy broad like Patricia. And thank you Apple [TV] for saying yes.
“Thank you Nicky and Tony for looking after me, my family back home, my mum and dad, and the loves of my life, my husband and our darling daughter – another sassy broad in the making.
Daisy Jackson -
20th January 2022 
