Carlton hunts sponsor for Peak Practice

Carlton TV’s broadcast sponsorship team is looking for a sponsor for the ITV network drama series Peak Practice.

The series is on air on Tuesdays at 9pm, the first time it has run as part of ITV’s autumn schedule.

A sponsor is needed for the winter series, starting in January 2000. It will be decided shortly whether the show will be commissioned for autumn 2000.

A sponsorship deal over two series is estimated to be valued at £2m.

Peak Practice, which stars Gary Mavers and Haydn Gwynne, has been sponsored once before.

Private health insurer PPP supported the programme about doctors in the Peak District but the Independent Television Commission ruled that the sponsor was unacceptably close to the series’ subject matter.

The ITC feared that viewers would think the sponsor was influencing the storylines.

Carlton director of sponsorship David Prosser says: “We would have to be careful to match the programme with the right client.”

Carlton continues to look for a sponsor for The Bill, ITV’s ongoing police drama, which has never been sponsored.

Drinks manufacturer UDV is to sponsor LWT’s London-based restaurant review programme Dinner Dates with its coffee liqueur Sheridan’s.

It is the first time UDV has used TV sponsorship for one of its brands. Credits are being made by LWT company The Lab.