'It brings people together' Worldwide hit Come Dine With Me reaches 20-year mark

It began as a small Channel 4 show that the narrator, Dave Lamb, thought “would be snuck out in the daytime and no one would ever see it”.

- Tara Conlan

But Come Dine With Me has become a worldwide hit, marking 20 years since its launch with a spin-off featuring teenagers and now launching its 50th version: a French-speaking edition for audiences in north Africa.

Over two decades, rival dinner party contestants have served up dishes ranging from sausage trifle to grasshopper cheesecake in their efforts to impress one another.

Worldwide there have been more than 20,000 episodes broadcast and more than 60,000 courses served. And during that time the show has charted society’s change in social, culinary and interior design tastes. “It’s been a kind of historical snapshot’ said its editor, Henry Hainault.

Lamb said that in the UK, contestants had become “more sophisticated in their approach”. Mike Beale, the managing director of ITV Studios Creative Network, which owns the production company Multistory Media, said they have moved from basic dishes such as spaghetti bolognese to more complicated efforts as a variety of UK cookery shows have captured the public’s imagination.

One of the reasons for its popularity, Hainault said, was families could watch it together, but also because “it’s one of very few shows that celebrates people in their own homes ... [plus] fundamentally, people are interested in people”.