ESSEX residents who believe their culinary skills are worth a cash prize are being encouraged to apply for Come Dine With Me.

The makers of the Channel 4 show are appealing for prospective contestants to apply for a new series as they prepare to resume filming.

Production of the popular cookery programme, where contestants compete to throw the best dinner party, had been paused during the pandemic.

Episodes will initially be filmed in a “Covid-secure venue” rather than contestants’ own homes, according to a statement.

Filming will then revert to taking place inside their houses once Government guidelines allow.

People from Essex, Basingstoke, Belfast, Birmingham, Brighton and Hove, Bristol, Bath, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Gloucester, Cheltenham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newport, Oxford, south London, Sunderland, Swansea and Yorkshire are being encouraged to apply.

The closing date for entries is September 10.