A Japanese pop-up restaurant aimed at increasing awareness of dementia and changing perceptions about the conditions is the basis of a new format produced by Red Arrow Studios’ CPL Productions for UK’s Channel 4.
The Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds indie is making The Restaurant That Makes Mistakes, a five-part factual entertainment format for the British broadcaster in association with Motion Content Group, co-producers of Channel 4’s Dementiaville.
The broadcaster hopes that the show will start a wider national conversation about how we think about people who live and work with this increasingly common condition. The restaurant was the brainchild of Japanese TV director Shiro Oguni and opened last year.
The Restaurant That Makes Mistakes was co-commissioned by Channel 4’s Head of Entertainment, Ed Havard and Channel 4’s Head of Features and Formats, Sarah Lazenby. It is exec produced by Murray Boland, Danielle Lux, Trish Powell, Benjamin Leigh and Martin Oxley.
Havard said, “Stand Up To Cancer has grown into a hugely successful Channel 4 brand that shines a light on the millions in this country battling cancer, and the ambition with The Restaurant That Makes Mistakes is no different – to challenge and change attitudes to dementia through an original and innovative series.”
Lazenby added, “A dementia diagnosis doesn’t, and shouldn’t mean the end of a career. This poignant and timely project aims to open the eyes of employers to the importance of keeping those who live with dementia in work by boosting their confidence and independence.”
Boland said, “We are thrilled to be working with Channel 4 on another ground-breaking series which we hope will make a significant contribution to the national conversation about living and working with dementia.”
“With an ever-ageing workforce dementia in the workplace will become a fact of life for so many of us in the years ahead and Motion is delighted to be involved in such an important examination of this issue, in the form of such an innovative format,” Oxley added.