The food-and-lifestyle television show River Cottage Australia will reach an even wider audience when it airs nightly on free-to-air television station SBS.
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This news comes just as was confirmed the property where the show was filmed at Central Tilba is for sale and no more episodes will be filmed, for now. Click here to read about the property being listed
But good news for the profile of the Narooma and Far South Coast region is that SBS has picked up the existing episodes of the show from producers KEO Films Australia. The show previously aired on the pay-television station Lifestyle.
Co-executive producer on River Cottage Australia, David Galloway said KEO was delighted to announce a new deal for the show with SBS. Viewers would be able revisit all the episodes from the beginning and join Paul West on his journey of sustainability and self-sufficiency on the Tilba farm, he said.
River Cottage Australia will air weeknights on SBS at 6pm from July 3 for 13 weeks and a total of 64 episodes.
“It will open a door to a whole new audience who may not have been able to see the show previously for whatever reason,” Mr Galloway said.
The shows producers were sad to see the show’s Tilba property go up for sale, but he said it was the reality that the show had moved on.
“Life goes on, but everyone who lived and worked on that property has a little bit of an attachment to it,” he said. “It was unlike any other show I have worked on.”
It was Mr Galloway that discovered the property formerly known as Rocklands after he came to Tilba on a reconnaissance mission in 2012 to find somewhere to film River Cottage Australia.
He fell in love with the 22-acre plot after being shown it by The Dromedary Hotel publican Marilyn Youlten and just had to have it for the show.
Mr Galloway meanwhile was continuing to spread the sustainability and conservation message, having just finished working on the show “War on Waste” set to air on ABC television on Tuesday nights.
That show was already making waves with its message of how much waste Australians produced and he said River Cottage also spread an environmental message of low-food miles and not wasting food, growing your own and using all parts of an animal.
Mr Galloway had also been working on the second series of groundbreaking show Struggle Street that was set to go air on SBS in late 2017.
And said he had not given up hope that River Cottage Australia could be resurrected somehow, particularly if it gained new life from the SBS airings, noting that the original British River Cottage series has had many reincarnations over the years – so stay tuned.
The RCA tv series has concluded production and therefore the Tilba house and farm were on the market; there has been lots of interest for the much-loved location, however noteworthy was the original UK-version of River Cottage had three country locations during its production-life and there may well be more opportunities to explore other parts of Australia, KEO producers said.
“The KEO-owned format RCA is a strongly-supported and popular brand; who knows what the next evolution of it will be; we agree with Paul that the brand might hopefully live on in another platform or medium.”
In the meantime, Mr Galloway was looking forward to coming back to Tilba for another visit soon to take in the stunning scenery and pristine environment.