BBC Studios announced at MIPTV 2019 that free-to-air channel HTV2 in Croatia has picked up the first international format license for high stakes culinary cook-off show Pressure Cooker.

Based on an original format devised by Jamie Oliver Productions Limited, the 43-part series, which is due to go into production this Spring pairs home cooks with celebrity chefs. The duo must select ingredients from a specially designed conveyor belt that kicks in at timed intervals. Whatever ingredients they take, they must use to cook a tasty meal while working against the clock. Judging the food is a star tasting expert who crowns a winner at the end of each episode who will go through to the grand final. The two finalists and their celebrity partner then have just 30 minutes to cook dinner and a dessert to impress the food expert one last time. Who will master the conveyor belt to be crowned the best home cook and take home a year’s worth of groceries?

Commenting on the sale of the format, Salim Mukaddam, Vice President and General Manager for CEE at BBC Studios said: “Many of us will recognize the sheer panic that comes with trying to prepare an impressive meal when we’re up against it for time. Pressure Cooker takes this up a notch with unknown ingredients and celebrity judges in the mix, making for entertaining, and sometimes hilarious, results. Pressure Cooker is just one of the engaging and entertaining formats that BBC Studios has to offer international audiences and I am looking forward to seeing the reaction from Croatian audiences when it airs later this Autumn.”

BBC Studios will be launching a number of brand-new formats at MIPTV including a new dating show and the scripted format for Sister Pictures’ The Split. Dating Detectives (A Zig Zag/CJ ENM/IMTV production) sees real-life detectives help disastrous daters uncover their ideal partner using authentic investigation techniques and hidden-camera filming. The Split, written by Abi Morgan and one of the BBC’s most popular dramas last year, will be launched as a six-episode scripted format in Cannes.

Also new to market is Couples on the Couch where real-life couples bring their sexual and emotional issues to a specially created clinic, giving an eye-opening insight into the complex world of modern relationships. Home Is Where the Art Is has three very different artists take to their tools in the ultimate creative competition. The prize? A commission from a mystery buyer.