Green mash for dinner? BBC brings back Fanny Cradock
FOR anyone who feels that today’s TV cookery shows are missing a spot of eccentricity – and could do with a touch more food colouring – this will come as good news.
Fanny Cradock is returning to our screens this Easter, as the BBC opens up its archives to revive cookery shows from as early as 1970.
The programmes are being brought back to chart the ‘evolution of the nation’s tastes’ in food, and show how TV cooking shows have changed.
Viewers will be treated to the first episode that Mrs Cradock filmed in her kitchen, alongside ever-patient husband Johnnie, in which she makes deep fat-fried cheese and breaks two eggs at the same time, all the while staring into the camera. The programmes, which will be on BBC iPlayer from March 31, also include the 1978 Delia Smith’s Cookery Course, which saw the home cook find fame.
The first shows about Chinese and Indian food, presented by Ken Hom and Madhur Jaffrey, are also among the 50 episodes that will be made available. The move will help the BBC battle streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon, which have a wealth of shows on offer.
Mrs Cradock, who died in 1994 at the age of 85, was known for her over-the-top wardrobe and bossy, direct presenting style.
She had a penchant for cooking with brandy and cream, and a fondness for food colouring – even making green mashed potato and green cheese ice cream. More appealingly, her first episode in her own kitchen sees her cooking fondue frites – cheese fondue with chips.
Modern programmes including Levi Roots’s Caribbean Food Made Easy, which aired in 2009, will also be part of the revival, as will Lorraine Pascale’s 2012 show Lorraine’s Fast Fresh and Easy Food.