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In an age where the reality programme is king, alongside cookery, makeover shows, and murder mysteries, 'Come Dine With Me' is one of the better offerings, mainly because of the absolutely awful contestants and the witty, sarcastic voiceovers by Dave Lamb. Without his input, this would not have much going for it.

Originally the format was one dinner party per episode, with a group of episodes representing each contest - more recently, this has changed so everything is dealt with during one edition. This has probably gained more viewers as there isn't so much of a commitment involved should you want to see the whole contest leading to the £1,000 prize.

COME DINE WITH ME now occupies a large slice of Channel 4's daytime schedule, with episodes running at lunchtime, late afternoon and most of Saturday afternoon. Channel 4's sister station More4 runs more episodes in the early evening. Watching several episodes back to back allows certain themes to emerge: the food selection by each contestant is often repetitive; the contestants have entrenched attitudes; their judgments are affected very much by the desire to win the competition; and all of them are more than ready to act in front of the ubiquitous television camera. Dave Lamb's narration contributes to the overall jokey atmosphere, as he makes fun of the contestants' pretensions. From a sociological perspective, however, COME DINE WITH ME is a fascinating text, as it encapsulates within each twenty-five-minute episode the enduring class, gender and age prejudices of most of the contestants. Anyone who thinks that contemporary Britain has changed in terms of its social structure, as compared with, say, half a century ago, would have their assumptions readily undermined here. Snobberies, racial prejudices, and gender jealousies still exist, even if they are perhaps more politely expressed than they might have once been.

Come Dine With Me, a staple of British and Irish TV screens during dinner time. Some of the memorable TV moments came from CDWM. It must be said, the show would just not be what it is without Dave Lamb, the voice-over host/narrator. His dry-wit always delivers a chuckle.

The format is simple but very fun, and all the recipes are put up on the channel's website (for better or worse!) I used to watch this show all the time as a kid, and I put that down to Lamb. One of the first meals I cooked was an Indian curry dish I saw on the show. If you're ever flicking through the channels, it's worth a stop at CDWM.

5 strangers vie to win £1000 prize each stranger hosts and prepares a 3 course homemade meal the diners then score the meal each out of 10 In secret. At the end of the week when all have hosted the scores are revealed and the highest score wins the money. I love this show the people who are hosts are all so different and interesting the narration in between is done by Dave Lamb he is excellent his dry sarcastic humour has me in fits of laughter and he really makes this show .

If you have never watched it and get the chance I would highly recommend

This is one of the most irritating, cocky, brash, exasperating TV shows ever! My mum loves it and it's just finished on Channel 4 (sarcastically) but, fear not, I'm writing this review on a Friday and tomorrow, as always on Channel 4 on a Saturday late afternoon, multiple episodes of the show are broadcast (but thankfully we're all out tomorrow and so we'll probably miss it - YIPPEE!!!

It's such a lovely idea which makes it even more of a shame that it is so god-damned ANNOYING! I feel like pulling my hair out when I so much as catch snippets of this programme and, do you know the most annoying bit of the show? DAVE LAMB!!!!!!! He never appears to know what "shut up" means nor how to! He's enormously annoying and, I'd say, what his active mouth needs is a strip of duck-tape - JUST so I can regain sanity for a little while! A very, very poor television programme which had long overstayed its welcome! I'm surprised the show saw its first month running!

I normally loathe reality television but this series is quite addictive.

It offers the viewer into the homes and lives of a group of ordinary people who , thankfully, and unusually in terms of reality TV , don't expect to get a career out of it.

Its fascinating to see the way that "normal" people conduct themselves on TV.Vanities are often reduced to a million tiny pieces, sometimes amusingly so.A fine example being the hairdresser who wanted to be surrounded by beautiful people " like you'd find in the pages of Hello".

Clearly this individual has no self awareness and no mirror. I watch this show religiously.

CDWM was an enjoyable watch for the first few seasons before it morphed into an unwatchable mess of a program. The heart of the show was about amateurs trying to out-do each other's cooking. Now it is a clown show and most contestants seem more interested in auditioning than cooking. The producers wear their biases on their sleeves as in each episode it is easy to see from the contestants they choose and their agenda of keeping the social order/hierarchy as they believe it needs to be.

If you were to look at all the winners of each program over the years it would be easy to see why the show is problematic and not authentic.

I couldn't not comment, as the show is about to turn twenty, who'd have thought this show would have survived for two decades.

It used to be essential viewing, a show we'd watch as a family, I can't lie, it hasn't been on the radar for about a decade, but the twenty year anniversary, made it appealing.

It has changed a little, the public have become more over the top, louder, more competitive, and even more keen to win that £1000 prize.

It does vary somewhat episode by episode, some are terrible, some are great fun, it all depends on the contestants they've assembled.

Dave Lamb makes the show, he's so funny, so sarcastic, it's his cutting dialogue that makes the show so watchable.

Easy viewing, something you can have on in the background, something you can watch with the whole family, it works.

7/10.

Much of the world regarded France as the home of good food. If the English ate to live then the French lived to eat it was said. But much has changed in England in the last 30 years or so. Never have so many taken such interest in good food. The dullness and poor quality of English "cuisine" has been replaced by ultra-cosmopolitan and much more skillful versions. All stimulated very largely by television.

The model for civilised dining both at its most formal and as a refined pleasure was French. In a sense it became the European ideal of civilised living - good food, good conversation overseen by a host who combined cooking as well as subtle human skills.

But England has very recently produced an illegitimate and ugly offspring - a boorish variant which (and who) while skilled in the technicalities - the preparation and the judging of food, even the aesthetics of the dining environment is entirely deficient in feelings. Worse than psychopathic where there may be attempts to conceal this, boorishness can be worn as a badge of pride.

So we have Come Dine With Me - reality TV in which contestants in fact competitors, sometimes aggressive, are brought together in a latter day bear pit to chew at each others food - and legs - in return, like most distasteful activities, for a large amount of cash. As in a version of The Prisoners Dilemma each must decide a strategy - be nice and hope to get good marks from the others or be nasty all round. Many opt for compromise: publicly complimentary to the host then rude about everything and everyone each time they are alone with the camera. Many confide to the camera their own immeasurable skills and the others' manifold defects. Meals, unsurprisingly are frequently tense affairs where a host who had previously boasted on camera struggles to match a quarter of his or her boasts. We the audience look with interest as sometimes there are glimpses of skill and originality but more interestingly we see vanity crushed before our eyes, if we are lucky one or more of the competitors become distressed and tearful. Like Big Brother its conceptual stable-mate we are encouraged to watch bloodless combat. Civilised dining has become in Come Dine with Me simply eating and backbiting.

Always an upper to watch Come dine with me is a sure bet Raise your appetite with some laughs A truly reliable winning horse

I've been a fan of CDWM for years but I have to pipe up now and say what has been aired this week is total crap tv. Very disappointed. At this rate I can't see any future series being made.

I am consistently amazed by the total cleanliness that the homes of the contestants boast only to then observe some decidedly poor cooking hygiene.

That goes for the celebrity versions too. On one Celebrity Come Dine With Me, we see Anneka Rice drop a bag full of fresh squid rings onto her kitchen carpet, only to scoop it up, request that the clip not be included before throwing it all unrinsed back into the paella pan. Inexcusable lenience for the most basic food handling laws.

The ongoing narration adds well to the humorous side of the show although many recipes are not helpful for regular home-cooking since in order to impress the dinner guests, hosts have a frequent tendency to push the boat out and many dishes are decadent in terms of calorific content and unsuitable for daily consumption. Contestants also have an allocated budget meaning they can afford a more upmarket joint of meat or the better catch of the day.

What is appealing is the "fly on the wall" aspect of this programme. Once the small talk is over with, we the viewers get to see the real opinions of the guests as they are interviewed separately and on occasion the over-the-table banter leads to upset and disquiet as we see dominant personalities clash.

Somewhat of a cult show, it is definitely worth one watch, even if, like me, you do not necessarily favour cookery programmes. The comedic element is what sells this truly worthwhile programme!

Great idea for a show but I'm constantly amazed at what the contestants don't know when it comes to international foods.