A Dorset couple will star in a brand-new cooking show tonight.

Robin and Sarah Armstrong from Ansty will rock the pan in the first episode of Cooking up a Fortune.

The new show pits some of the nation’s most passionate amateur cooks against each other.

They’re tasked with cooking for a living, creating and selling dishes to hundreds of real diners in a purpose-built food arena.

Each week the winning kitchen gets to launch their idea for a food business to paying customers, in one of Europe’s busiest food markets.

Mr Armstrong said: “It was such a laugh and we met some really nice people.

“It’s a proper cooking show, it’s none of this reality TV stuff, everyone takes the cooking very seriously.”

He said he and his wife were encouraged to join the show after talent scouts had seen their cooking on social media.

The couple regularly post pictures of their dinner parties, where they serve posh dinner party food to their guests.

When the couple aren't cooking Robin works for the NHS and Sarah works for a charity.

Mr Armstrong said the show was essentially about creating a street food brand - cooking good food, maximising profits and most importantly flogging it to customers.

He and his wife created the brand Dorset Gourmet and championed using local produce.

He told the Echo: “Our unique selling point for this whole thing was using local produce. We sold ourselves as the couple who cooks with Dorset produce.

“On the first episode we cooked what we called a Jurassic Burger. It was very much made out of Dorset produce.”

The TV show has been commissioned by Channel 4 and is created by Frieda TV.

Jon Lloyd, creative director of Frieda TV, said: “It’s been a joy to turn a traditional cookery competition on its head and create something that feels really different. Dom’s expertise and the genuine opportunity for winners to change their lives every single week, has led to incredibly high-quality food and a range of competitors that you wouldn’t normally see on TV.”

The first episode will air at 5.30pm tonight.