TV cooking shows are dying out - this cronut holds the secret to why (*croissant-donut)

Some 30 years ago I found myself working with David Pritchard, a director who turned the late Keith Floyd into a TV star.

He had first encountered Floyd, glass in hand, chaotically running a Bristol restaurant and coaxed him into cooking on television, often, it appeared, semi-sloshed, on a trawler or a gale swept hillside or, memorably, in a field of ostriches.

Audiences loved it. More than 20 television series ran with Floyd at the helm, and one of the attractions was the obvious tension between him and his director. It was never going to end well.

One day, while we were editing a programme, David walked in fresh from filming with Floyd. He looked pained. We flew back on separate planes, he said.

Then he leant closer and told me he didn't have to worry: Rick will save me. Rick Stein had appeared on Floyd on Fish. He was given his own cooking show and went on to host dozens more, including 40 episodes of Rick Stein's Cornwall.

Meanwhile, the light sprinkling of food shows of the early 90s went on to become a daily staple of TV schedules throughout the 2000s and 2010s.

In 2014, there was a complaint that the BBC had, in one week, broadcast 21 hours of cooking shows. Then, seemingly just as abruptly as it all began - it was all over.

Shows known in the industry as stand and stir fell off a cliff this year. The number of new, half-hour shows from the BBC so far this year: zero.

Commissions for all forms of food programmes across British TV have dropped 44% in a year, according to Ampere Analysis. Elsewhere, however, food videos are booming - only they're not made by traditional production companies. Instead, they are on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok.

In February, the ratings agency Nielsen reported a landmark moment: YouTube is now the most-watched service on American TVs. We're not talking about phones or laptops but TVs. The UK is not far behind.

By July, the broadcasting regulator Ofcom had published a report warning that British TV is facing a crisis. Time, it said, is running out to save this pillar of UK culture and way of life.

Cristina Nicolotti Squires oversees TV in the UK for Ofcom. Unless something is done soon, this great broadcasting culture and landscape is under threat. This is true of many types of television. Zuzana Henkova of Ampere Analysis gathers data on UK production and says there is a consistent decline in commissioning for documentaries, art and culture, historical, travel, sport and nature.

But the biggest drop over the last 12 months was for cooking.

Even some of the most popular TV cooks, like Nigella Lawson and Nadiya Hussain, are off the TV menu in the UK for now. The question is, why?

What is it that has made us fall out of love so spectacularly - and so suddenly - with what was once one of our favourite genres? The answer seems to be tied to a cultural shift: audiences are gravitating towards the authenticity and immediacy that food influencer content delivers.

Natalia Rudin, a former private chef turned food influencer, experienced this phenomenon firsthand. Her recipe for a bean dish went viral, garnering over a million views overnight and leading to a significant rise in her followers. Meanwhile, her sales of beans at Waitrose soared by 122%.

Ben Ebbrell, another influencer, found success with a cronut recipe that capitalized on social media trends, emphasizing the adaptability and engagement that traditional TV programming lacks.

The cultural impact of cooking shows is undeniable, but the question remains whether audiences will miss these traditional formats as they continue to embrace the new era of food content. More importantly, how television networks will adapt to this fast-changing landscape to stay relevant is yet to be seen.