A French B&B is up for grabs in A New Life In The Sun: Win a BnB from True North

28 October 2024

Leeds-based indie wins tender to find competitive property format for 5pm.

Channel 4 Lifestyle has commissioned True North to make A New Life In The Sun: Win a BnB, a brand extension of the ever-popular A New Life In The Sun.

The new 15-part series sees British couples compete to win the keys to a B&B in France and the chance to change their lives forever. Over two weeks of heats, competitors will be put to the ultimate test as they run French B&Bs for real guests, completing challenges that test their hospitality, culinary and business skills.

As the couples are whittled down, four make it to the final week where they’ll take it in turns to run the prize B&B that could be theirs by the end of the series – all while soaking up the sun and experiencing their potential new French lives.

Along the way, our couples are reviewed by their guests, as well as being judged by an expert B&B inspector and a former A New Life in the Sun contributor who has first-hand experience of setting up a B&B business abroad.

A New Life In The Sun: Win a BnB is commissioned in response to Channel 4 Lifestyle’s callout for submissions to a tender process to find a new property format with a competition element for 5pm.

Jo Street, Channel 4’s Head of Lifestyle and Director of Commissioning, Nations and Regions, said: “When we put the call out to producers to submit their ideas for a new competitive property format, we knew our brilliant indie community would more than rise to the challenge. The calibre was so high we ended up putting six ideas into funded development – all commissionable in their own way and, fantastically, all from either Nations or Regions suppliers. Whilst we can only commission one idea at the moment, I’m confident at least another couple will also make it our screens in the not-too-distant future.”

Jayne Stanger, Senior Commissioning Editor, Lifestyle, said: “A New Life In The Sun: Win a BnB perfectly encapsulates what we were looking for; sunny escapism coupled with beautiful properties and a healthy dose of competitive jeopardy. We’re really excited to see how our audience embraces this great new format from True North, building on the success of A New Life In The Sun.”

Julie Beanland, Creative Director for True North, said: “We are delighted to be working on this new format, and brand extension, with Channel 4. Over ten years, A New Life in the Sun has provided many opportunities for hundreds of freelancers in the North and this commission shows a real commitment from the channel in both the show and regional production.”

A New Life In The Sun: Win a BnB is a 15x60’ series for Channel 4 Daytime. It was commissioned by Jo Street, Head of Lifestyle and Director of Commissioning, Nations and Regions, and Jayne Stanger, Senior Commissioning Editor, Lifestyle. The series will be produced by True North and the executive producers are Julie Beanland and Piero Sfredda, with Clare Thomas as Head of Production. The series will be distributed by Cineflix Rights.