The next big BBC talent show

The programme will air on the corporation's youth TV channel, BBC Three, within the next few months. It will be called Britain's Young Butcher of the Year, although industry wags were yesterday suggesting alternative titles such as Chop Idol.

“It is a bit like Butcher Idol, I suppose,” said Danny Cohen, controller of BBC Three, at the channel's season launch yesterday [Tues]. “What we've tried to look at is shows like The X Factor and the dancing contests – all wonderful shows. But what about the vast number of young people who are very talented, with great technical expertise, but are unsung heroes? It'll be young people doing extraordinary things that are often quite jaw-dropping when you see them.”

With echoes of The Generation Game, the show will focus on the technical skills involved in different trades. “We'll start with a great number of butchers, and whittle them down during a series of butcher challenges,” said Mr Cohen. “The way you cut a joint requires a lot of technical skill. Then there's the thing where you stuff a number of different birds into one bird. We'll have quite unusual joints of meat from quite unusual animals – seeing whether the butchers can cope with animals that they don't usually deal with.”

Mr Cohen said that the programme's judge had not yet been finalised, and was unable to say whether it would be a celebrity butcher.

Butchery will only form the focus of one week's programme, with other episodes seeking out the best young chefs and hairdressers.