Jamie's BBC dinner date

Jamie Oliver dishes up advice on cooking for a special meal

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and Royle Family star Ralf Little lead BBC Two's new autumn season of programmes.

Popular chef Oliver, 25, returns in Friends For Dinner which sees him, and other celebrity chefs, visiting viewers' homes to help them prepare a special meal.

Little, 19, who is best known as downtrodden teenager Anthony Royle in the award-winning sitcom, returns in a new pub-based comedy.

Royle Family star Little leaves the living room and goes down the pub

Two Pints of Lager (and a Packet of Crisps) sees Little as one of five angst-ridden twentysomethings stressing over life down the local.

Other season highlights include a sexually-charged new drama series set in an internet start-up company, comedy from Steve Coogan's production company and a new series of domestic makeover show Home Front.

Innovation

Unveiling her channel's new £85m season, controller Jane Root stressed that the choice of programming championed innovation and experimentation.

Leading the way is drama series Attachments, from Tony Garnett, the creator of Cops.

Attachments opens up the closed environment of office relationships

Set in an internet firm, it features sex, office politics, and e-mail flirtations as it looks at the tangled relationships in the workplace.

Root said: "If you want to see where BBC Two is going just now, look at Attachments.

"As well as being a stunning piece of modern, new drama really pushing at the boundaries of innovation and experience, it is an undiluted expression of our trust in Tony's track record as a creative."

New voice

On the side of experimentation, master of disguise Steve Coogan takes on a new role as programme-maker to bring the first comedy series from his production company Baby Cow to the screen.

The show, Consenting Adults, stars Julia Davis and Rob Brydon as six different couples in dysfunctional relationships.

Consenting Adults heralds a new venture for Steve Coogan

Root said: "As people like Steve mature into new and bigger projects, we constantly look for the next new voice to start the journey from scratch.

"Sometimes that will work and sometimes it won't but the point is that we never stop trying, never stop testing."

Other new entertainment shows include a computer game show called Bleeding Thumbs.

Mixing real world and fantasy, two celebrity captains lead their teams through a variety of challenging rounds.

On the side of factual and documentary programmes, a Reputations Special promises fresh insights into the complex character of disgraced US President Richard Nixon.

Reputations probes Nixon's character

The season also features a theme night devoted to broadcasting legend Sir David Frost - a major face on TV for 40 years.

Frost Night turns the tables on Sir David and interviews him about his life.

It will also show old and new programmes, as well as a debate on the subject of happiness, which he will chair.