Already mentioned, the new series starts on Monday March 1st, St David's Day.
18 episodes. First week's scheduled times are:
Monday 1st 21.00 (60 minutes) with the first 5 contestants
Wednesday 3rd 20.00 (60 minutes) with the next 5 contestants
Friday 5th 20.05 (30 minutes) first quarter final.
Monday's and Wednesday's episodes will include a new task for the contestants but nothing to get excited about
40 contestants in all.
I assume that this series will be all done at the Masterchef kitchens.