Tom Kerridge rules out Saturday Kitchen but confirms new BBC show
The two-Michelin-starred chef is set to present Saturday Kitchen on a one-off basis this Saturday (6 August), and has done so previously, but will not take up the reins full time, he said today.
He did confirm that he has filmed an as-yet unnamed BBC show all about "celebrating fast food" set to be aired early next year, alongside the release of his new diet book, Tom Kerridge’s Dopamine Diet, which is scheduled for January 2017. (The chef recently lost over 10 stone through a combination of limited carbs, alcohol, and exercising through swimming.)
Saturday Kitchen – which at its peak saw ratings of over three million viewers ‒ has been without a regular presenter since chef James Martin stood down after ten years at the beginning of April.
Kerridge, Michelin-starred chef-owner at the Marlow pubs The Hand and Flowers and The Coach – which were both listed in this year’s top 100 at the National Restaurant of the Year Awards ‒ is set to present the show this weekend, in a programme also featuring Norfolk chef Galton Blackiston, and Kerridge’s long-time friend and Cornwall-based chef Paul Ainsworth.
However, speaking to BigHospitality today, he said that his wasn’t considering taking up the position full time, citing family commitments and his demanding pubs as factors.
He said: “It’s a really great show to be on, because it’s live and making television is great fun.
“But it’s very difficult to fit a Saturday into my schedule, and it’s not a role that I’d like to take on full-time, because the commitment goes on all week. It’s probably two or three days in the week for an hour and half show starting at five in the morning on a Saturday. With my pubs and my seven-month old boy [with Kerridge’s sculptor wife, Beth], it’s not for me; it’s not something I can take on.”
He added that he never watches himself back on TV, likening making television to the enjoyable nature of a kitchen mise en place, but that he was “not comfortable enough to watch myself back”, and that combining media commitments and profile with day-to-day life was a careful balancing act.
