Ready for another helping of TV hit?
The heat is on as viewers count down to the return of Ready Steady Cook
COOKING on a budget and against the clock proved a recipe for TV success with Ready Steady Cook. The red tomato and green pepper aprons of the contestants allowed audiences to cheer on their favourite as they rattled the pots and pans to put something tasty on a plate in just 20 minutes.
Contestants only had a budget of £5 for one challenge and had to include an ingredient brought in by an audience member.
The audience also got to decide the winner by turning over either a red tomato card or a green pepper at the end of the cooking session to register their vote. The cookery contest ran for 21 series and it became the longest-running cookery show on British TV screens. Fern Britton launched the BBC daytime show in 1994, with celebrity chef Ainsley Harriott taking over the reins in 2000. By the time the cookery show served up its final meal in 2010, it had notched up nearly 1,900 episodes. Former Doctor Who star David Tennant appeared on the programme with his father while other celebrities in the kitchen included Kate Winslet, Paul O’Grady in Lily Savage guise, Twiggy and Jonathan Creek star and QI regular Alan Davies.
There were also Ready Steady Cook recipe books and a board game for children, while chefs who joined in the fun on the BBC show over the years included James Martin, Aldo Zilli, Anthony Worrall Thompson and Phil Vickery.
The format was sold to around 25 countries and the show was known as KOKamok in Denmark and Kochduell in Germany.
It has now been announced a rebooted version of Ready Steady Cook will be back on BBC 1 next year with X Factor contestant-turned-TV presenter Rylan Clark-Neal as the new host.
Rylan is no stranger to the kitchen having reached the finals of Celebrity MasterChef and says: “I’m so excited that Ready Steady Cook is finally coming back to our screens. To be asked to host such an amazing show for the BBC is such a privilege.
“I’m sure that the mix of new challenges, fantastic chefs and enthusiastic cooks will be a recipe for success... maybe with the odd disaster. I can’t wait to get in the kitchen!”