Countrywise (known as Countrywise: Guide to Britain since 2016) is a British television series on ITV, which looks at the best of Britain's coast and country. The programme is currently presented by Ben Fogle and Liz Bonnin.

Countrywise
GenreDocumentary
Presented byBen Fogle (2013—16)
Liz Bonnin (2013—16)
Paul Heiney (2009–2016)
Mike Robinson (Kitchen series)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series
  • 6 (Regular series)
  • 4 (Kitchen series)
No. of episodes
  • 92 (Regular episodes)
  • 24 (Kitchen episodes)
  • 5 (Specials)
Production
Executive producerMark Scantlebury
Producers
  • Mark Challender
  • Ian Griffiths
Running time30–60 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production companyITV Studios[1]
Original release
NetworkITV
Release12 March 2009 (2009-03-12) –
22 December 2016 (2016-12-22)
Related
Countryfile

Format

edit

Classical historian Bettany Hughes formerly appeared on the programme, and was introduced as the "Countrywise historian".[2]

The fourth series of the programme began broadcast on 25 June 2012, when it came from the Isle of Man and mentioned the Manx cat. A more recent edition of the programme has come from Ireland. This edition of the programme mentioned how the newest member of the Countrywise team has been the programme's scientist, Charlotte Uhlenbroek, who discussed Finn MacCool when the programme was in Ireland.

In late July 2012, the programme was broadcast in Pembrokeshire, Wales, where it visited the smallest city in the United Kingdom, that of St. Davids.

2013 return

edit

The show returned on 2 September 2013 with presenter Paul Heiney and two new co-hosts, Ben Fogle and Liz Bonnin. The same format continued for the sixth and seventh series in 2014 and 2015.[3] Paul Heiney did not return to the show for the eighth series in 2016. Bonnin and Fogle now present Countrywise.

Since 2016, the show has been renamed Countrywise: Guide to Britain.

Episodes

edit
Series Start date End date Episodes
1 12 March 2009 30 December 2009 36
2 29 March 2010 4 October 2010 26
3 5 April 2011 5 July 2011 12
4 25 June 2012 27 August 2012 10
5 2 September 2013 21 October 2013 8
6 27 October 2014[4] 29 December 2014 8
7 19 October 2015 28 December 2015 8
8 9 September 2016 22 December 2016 15

Specials

edit
Special Original Air Date
Countrywise at War 11 September 2010
Countrywise: Christmas Special 22 December 2010
Countrywise: The Real Downton Abbey 18 September 2011
Countrywise: Jubilee Special 29 May 2012
Countrywise: Winter Wonderland 25 December 2015
Countrywise: Secret Wild Places 17 August 2016

On-air team

edit

Main presenters

edit

Reporters

edit

Countrywise Kitchen presenters

edit

Countrywise Kitchen

edit

Countrywise launched a new series in December 2010 called Countrywise Kitchen, about foraging for food and food connected with different parts of the country. The edition broadcast on 10 December 2010 mentioned gathering mushrooms, and mentioned the cep mushroom.

It was a spin-off from the regular series and was co-presented by Paul Heiney and Mike Robinson between 2010 and 2012.

Series Start date End date Episodes
1 3 December 2010 20 December 2010 5
2 11 July 2011 29 August 2011 8
3 12 December 2011 28 December 2011 3
4 13 March 2012 15 May 2012 8

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Shiver Gets Countrywise – Shiver". Archived from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  2. ^ "Countrywise - Bettany Hughes". Archived from the original on 30 June 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  3. ^ "Ben Fogle, Liz Bonnin and Paul Heiney lace up their boots as they get Countrywise".
  4. ^ "Countrywise Episode 1".
  5. ^ "ITV Media – Countrywise". Archived from the original on 3 December 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
edit