ITV lands a right bobby-dazzler

From MediaGuardian

ITV is hiring Bargain Hunt presenter David Dickinson.

Liam Keelan, the ITV head of daytime and former BBC1 scheduler, revealed today in a session at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival that he had landed the star.

The perma-tanned presenter, whose Bargain Hunt catchphrase is "cheap as chips", is to front a new ITV1 daytime show made by RDF, the independent producer behind Wife Swap.

Mr Keelan said: "The reason we went for David is that we are heading towards more entertainment in ITV daytime, and there's no one who's more of a showman than DD".

The show will be called Dickinson's Real Deal and is to be produced by Mark Hill, who recently left the BBC's Bristol factual production unit to join RDF.

Mr Keelan has ordered a 40-episode initial run of the new 60-minute show, which could be on air in ITV1's afternoon schedule as early as this autumn.

Dickinson's Real Deal will be set in an auction house, but one with a TV studio built on the premises. When people turn up with antiques expecting to auction them, they will be offered a cash price for the item by traders. They must decide whether to accept the cash, or gamble and see if they can make more money by going ahead and auctioning their antique.

The BBC daytime controller, Jay Hunt was dismissive of Dickinson's new ITV daytime show, saying putting him in an antiques gameshow was a "no brainer". "It's not the most inspired idea in the world, David Dickinson in an antiques show. It sounds disarmingly like Flog It!,"

I think it was pretty obvious to everyone that David Dickinson wasn't going to get another BBC show anyway. ITV1 is actually rather more prestigious than where I expected him to defect to, but I'm sure it's just a stopping-off point on a rapid slide into oblivion.

The ITV ideas meeting comes up trumps again

What a strange thing to say. That's like saying "It's not the most inspired idea, Delia in a cookery show". Of course he's going to do antiques programmes.

Another daytime antiques programme - just what we need then!

The fact is, Dickinson isn't the greatest antiques expert, as he himself admits.

He's really more of a fraudster - and a pretty ropey one at that.

What a lemon ITV have picked up there.

Wasn't he 'inside' at one point in his youth ISTR being mentioned somewhere?

He certainly was.

If he'd been any good at what he did he wouldn't have been caught.

I don't mean to be unkind, but I couldn't help but laugh when Dickinson walked away from daytime Bargain Hunt when he assumed he'd hit the heights with the primetime show - and then it was dropped.

What a silly sod.

indeed, for all her faults at least Anne Robinson has had the sense to stay with daytime weakest link throughout both it's tenure at primetime BBC1 and the US version

Useless presenter now with a useless broadcaster - now that's what I call "Cheap As Chips!!!" The ITV comissioners still don't have an idea and still pampering the lowest of the low in this country - don't they realise that the majority of people in this country want to watch decent intelligent television and not cheap entertainment shows all the time!)