Australia’s Nine Network has ordered a local version of Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars and a two-part drama event series based on the late cricket maverick Shane Warne. Both shows were presented at Nine’s Upfront today.
Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars is the latest adaptation of celeb chef and present Ramsay’s cooking competition format, which All3Media International sells globally, after the original Fox show and the UK remake on the BBC. Endemol Shine Australia and Studio Ramsay are making the show, in which Ramsay and business mogul Janine Allis will mentor and guide competing two teams, with each contestant vying for their food business idea to be invested in and taken forward.
In the U.S. Fox ordered a second season of the format back in May, while the BBC’s Future Food Stars aired between late March and May. The Aussie version debuts next year.
Warnie, meanwhile, is also from Banijay-owned Screentime, in association with VicScreen, and is a tribute to spin bowling great Warne, whose antics on and off the cricket pitch have been become legendary in sporting and entertainment circles. He died in March while on holiday in Thailand of a suspected heart attack, uniting Australians in grief. He was given a state funeral, which was broadcasted on public network the ABC.
Nine’s two-night show is being billed as “the fitting tribute to one of the greatest Australians of all time, the Aussie larrikin who lived and loved large in the Nine Network’s must see drama event of 2023.” Banijay Rights will handle international distribution.
Also on the new Nine slate is The Summit, an unscripted show from Endemol Shine Australia that is headed to screen after receiving nvestment from Banijay’s Creative Fund, a financial resource available to supercharge the group’s labels’ ideas.
The synopsis reads: “In the rugged Alps of New Zealand’s southern island, a group of strangers will embark on an epic quest unlike anything ever seen. With their backpacks containing an equal share of A$1M, the group must reach the peak of a distant mountain in just 14 days to win the cash they’re carrying.”
There’s also Human Error, a drama from Roadshow Rough Diamond, that benefitted from production investment from Screen Australia in association with Nine and financial support from VicScreen. It comes from the creative talents behind influential Aussie dramas Underbelly, Bump, Offspring and Love My Way, and is produced by John Edwards, Dan Edwards, Greg Haddrick and Samantha Winston, with The Age’s crime reporter and podcaster John Sylvester (Underbelly) as story consultant. Cast International distribution will be handled by ITV Studios.
The drama follows Detective Holly O’Rourke and her homicide team as a seemingly open-and-shut murder investigation threatens to destroy her career, her family, and her faith in justice.