THE CHEFS’ BRIGADE

BBC Two, 9.00pm

“Brigade” is essentially the restaurant term for a team, that is the sous-chefs, commis and kitchen porters who keep the show on the road, and the premise behind this new series is a simple one. Four-star Michelin chef Jason Atherton has gathered together a group of “undiscovered talents” to build a brigade from scratch. Each week, the gang will go head-to-head with established teams from across Europe before a final showdown in Paris.

The opening episode spends time introducing us to the new chefs, with stand-outs including tattooed 21-year-old Reann and former military chef James, who is good but also rather too fond of the sound of his voice. A similar problem dogs the ebullient Stephen, who cooks on the Margate seafront and clearly hopes that a bit of banter will help him to stand out. He may have misjudged that, however, as the softly spoken Atherton is very much not from the Gordon Ramsay school of shout loudly and make it all about you. There’s steel behind his compassion, however. “Jason will want to win,” notes right-hand man Dale, ahead of the match-up with an impressive team from Puglia. Can the makeshift brigade pull off an upset? Sarah Hughes

Team building: Jason Atherton (c) puts together a brigade

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