Show Me The Honey! New BBC series is the first beekeeping challenge on British TV

A brand new BBC series is set to be the first beekeeping challenge on British TV.

Show Me The Honey! will be presented by Bafta-winning presenter – and bee enthusiast – Maddie Moate.

Airing on CBBC, the seven-part series will follow four families from across the UK on their beekeeping, honey-making adventure.

A teaser shares: “The CBBC series will capture all the ups and downs of beekeeping – from the joy of receiving their hive, bees and suits, through to the tribulations of maintaining a hive, up to its climactic final harvest.

“Beekeeping is a brilliant process full of natural jeopardy. There are months and months of love, care and attentiveness involved, building to that all-important moment – have the bees actually produced any honey?

“The families won’t have to go it alone though – as well as Maddie they’ll have beekeeping expert Curtis Thompson on standby to give advice and lend a hand throughout the process.

“Each week Maddie and Curtis will put them through their paces in Bee School where they will learn about topics such as the worker bees’ ‘waggle dance’, insect vision and bee surveys.

“There is also the Weekly Challenge. These challenges include building a solitary bee B&B, creating a pollen paradise, and designing logos for their honey. Families will go head to head in challenges at home to win a ‘Golden Bee’ to proudly adorn their hive with.”

Ultimately, the beekeepers will be striving to be crowned the Beekeeper Of The Year by producing the best and sweetest tasting honey.

Judges will include chef Ainsley Harriott, who will be creating a celebratory dish with the winner’s honey, before they take home a special Show Me The Honey trophy.

The show also features its very own social media platform called The Hive while a host of celebrities will encourage the beekeepers on their journey.

Maddie, who kept bees as a child, said “We all love honey and bees are vital to our eco-system, now more than ever.

“With green fingers and sticky hands we want to inspire the next generation of eco-conscious youngsters to get outside, support our precious pollinators and maybe even encourage them to try their hand at beekeeping with a local expert.”

Curtis added: “Honey produced in an inner-city environment, which tends to have high variety of flowers, will taste very different from a countryside honey where the bees may have been exclusively visiting one crop such as heather.

“So it will be interesting to see who comes out on top – the city, suburban or countryside teams?”

Show Me the Honey! will air on CBBC and BBC iPlayer from Thursday, 30 September.