Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
ANYONE FOR A SAUCY CHRISTMAS?
Emilia Fox and Dawn French on the third series of their racy restaurant drama Delicious
Filmed in the stunning Cornwall sunshine and featuring three of the nation’s favourite actresses, along with mouthwatering food, lashings of intrigue and romance – and a ghost – it’s no surprise that
Sky One’s Delicious has proved to be one of the channel’s biggest hits. So big in fact that the drama, which stars Dawn French, Emilia Fox and Sheila Hancock, is returning for a third run this week.
The new series picks up where the last one left off. Sam, played by Emilia Fox, is uncomfortably running the Penrose Hotel and restaurant with her late husband Leo’s ex-wife Gina (Dawn French) after he left it to them both in his will. Gina, who’s also the chef, was having an affair with Leo when he died. Overseeing their difficult relationship is
Leo’s mother Mimi (Sheila Hancock), and added into the mix is Leo’s son Adam (Aaron Anthony), another chef at the restaurant with whom Sam once had a romantic tryst. There’s also Gina’s depressed daughter Teresa (Tanya Reynolds) and the ghost of Leo, played by Iain Glen, who pops up as narrator and when the key characters need someone to talk to.
While Sam and Gina are maintaining an uneasy truce, the Penrose has hit financial difficulties. So it’s just the wrong time for chef and restaurateur Mason Elliott to make an entrance. He wants to set up a rival restaurant and soon causes huge trouble within the Penrose. ‘Mason is a charismatic, handsome rival chef to Gina, and Sam invites him into their lives as a potential investor for the Penrose,’ says Emilia. ‘Little does she realise, though, that behind the charm is someone who’s about to create havoc in her relationship with Gina. He sets up a rival business while becoming embroiled in both women’s emotional lives.’
Things become even more complicated when Gina, who Mason is wooing to be a chef at his restaurant, falls for his charms. ‘There’s a key moment where I cook blindfolded to prove a point to Mason, and it turns into a bit of a saucy scene,’ says Dawn. ‘Their relationship becomes very interesting indeed.’
Vincent Regan, who takes the role of Mason, insists his character isn’t a villain. ‘Everyone’s first impressions about Mason are that he’s not a nice guy,’ he says. ‘He was interesting to play because as the episodes go on, you start to realise there’s more to him than just an opportunist businessman. He’s actually a sensitive person who’s not out to try and ruin people, but to create a life for himself in Cornwall.’
For both Emilia and Dawn, who’ve become close friends through the show, one of the great pleasures of Delicious is that it proves age is no barrier to passion. ‘I love that my clothes are dark and sexy – like an older Sophia Loren meets Nigella Lawson,’ says Dawn.
‘In fact there’s been such a response to the clothes in the series that our costume designer is starting to think about releasing a line.’
Sam, meanwhile, embarks on a relationship with former boyfriend Marc, played by Rhashan Stone. ‘There’s a scene where Sam and Marc are dancing by the pool and it might be one of my favourite scenes I’ve ever filmed,’ says Emilia. ‘Hopefully it will make people smile. There are some lovely romantic moments between Sam and Marc, and it’s great to be doing those kinds of scenes in my 40s. Age doesn’t mean that romance should die.
‘There are elements of me in Sam, and I think what you really see in this series is my own belief in seizing the day and the joy to be found in life, if you know the right places to look.’
The new series of Delicious begins on Friday at 9pm on Sky One and on NOW TV.