A+E Networks UK Pacts with Curve for Irish Pickers

A+E Networks UK and Curve Media are set to co-produce the new series Irish Pickers, to premiere on the free-to-air channel BLAZE.

The 10×60-minute series follows Dublin-based vintage connoisseur Ian Dowling, alongside his team comprised of Mark “Butzy” Butterly, “Vintage” Vinny Smith and Ali Foy, as they discover, buy and sell Irish treasures. Dowling and the team head to prestigious, interesting and historic places, hunting out and buying quirky and unusual objects previously hidden from the world.

The Irish Pickers team will travel the length and breadth of the island of Ireland from farms to stately homes, family businesses, private collectors, architectural salvage dealers and museums looking for amazing items of national and local historical significance. The new series will follow the team as they buy and sell everything from ornaments, street signs, military artifacts, retro games, model cars, shop fittings, prints, posters, adverts and more. If it’s Irish and has a history, they’re interested.

The show will premiere on BLAZE in the U.K. and Ireland in March 2020.

Dan Korn, VP of Programming at A+E Networks UK, commented: “We’re delighted to be giving this much-loved programming brand a new lease of life by taking it to a country so rich in history and culture. Ian and the gang are perfect for BLAZE—no-nonsense, warm, authentic characters, with a great sense of fun and adventure, who really know their stuff.

Rob Carey, CEO and executive producer for Curve Media, added: “We are thrilled to be working with Dan and Diana at A+E Networks UK and BLAZE on this exciting new series. Ian and his team are rare talents and I cannot wait for audiences to see the extraordinary people, places and objects that they uncover. It is an honor to take the legendary Pickers brand to Ireland and to oversee the expansion of a concept that I originally launched in the U.S.”