ANYONE with a recipe to freshen up a left-over turkey that may be past its sell-by date should send it to RTE.

The broadcaster is trying to create a new programme format for Dustin the Turkey, the puppet that represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest last spring. The character, who first appeared on Irish television in 1990, has been given a “development contract” by the station.

Producers are about to shoot a pilot programme to test out a new approach, with the intention of relaunching Dustin’s television career next year. RTE sources say one idea is for a gameshow in which the turkey character, played by John Morrison, interacts with celebrities.

A RTE spokesman said: “Dustin previously had a contract for young people’s programmes, but is now moving in a different direction. We’re trying out a format which is indicative of the new approach. The pilot is about to go into production and is designed to test out a particular format.”

RTE said that giving Dustin a development contract “facilitates an exploration of formats”.

A spokesman for Double Z, the production company behind Dustin, said it is happy with the nature of the contract RTE has given. Asked what the future holds for the turkey, he said: “It depends on how the pilots go. But the intention is that he will go back on air.”

The puppet will now target a more mature audience, Double Z said, but the format will not be a chat show. The fruits of RTE’s and Dustin’s labours are not expected to be seen until next year.

The puppet’s masters said it is “natural for him to do something different” after his appearance at Eurovision. The difficulty for Morrison is that the younger people at whom the character was originally targeted do not appear to find him funny any more. Dustin first appeared on RTE in 1990 as a sidekick to Zig and Zag on The Den.

It has surprised observers that RTE is attempting to reheat the turkey given the vitriolic criticism over sending it as Ireland’s representative to Eurovision. The puppet finished 15th out of 19 in his semi-final and 33rd out of 38 overall, in what most consider to be the country’s worst result at Eurovision.

Rather than find Dustin uproariously funny, as they were supposed to, most European voters did not get the joke and seemed to be unhappy with Ireland mocking the song contest, staged at Belgrade.

Of the 20 countries eligible to vote, 17 awarded Ireland either zero, one or two points.

The entry — Irelande Douze Points — is thought to be the first in the history of the competition to be booed by the audience.

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