The Great British Menu
| Great British Menu | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Also known as | Great British Christmas Menu Great British Waste Menu Great British Budget Menu |
| Genre | Cooking game show |
| Presented by | Jennie Bond (2006–7) |
| Judges |
Matthew Fort Oliver Peyton Prue Leith (2006–16) Andi Oliver (2017–) Jay Rayner (Great British Waste Menu) Mary Berry (Great British Budget Menu) |
| Voices of | Jennie Bond (2008–10) Mark Bazeley (Great British Waste Menu) Wendy Lloyd (2011–) |
| Theme music composer | Daniel Pemberton |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 12 |
| No. of episodes | 544 (as of end of Series 12) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30–60 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Optomen |
| Distributor | All3Media |
| Release | |
| Original network |
BBC Two BBC One (Specials) |
| Picture format | 16:9 |
| Original release | 10 April 2006 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | www |
| Production website |
www |
Great British Menu is a BBC television series in which top British chefs compete for the chance to cook one course of a four course banquet.
Series one and two were presented by Jennie Bond, the former BBC Royal correspondent, whereby each week, two chefs from a region of the UK create a menu. In series three and four, both narrated by Bond but with no presenter, three chefs from a region of the UK create a menu; only the two with the best scores went through to the Friday judging. In series five and six, the fifth narrated by Bond while the sixth is narrated by Wendy Lloyd, three chefs from a region of the UK create a menu, with in kitchen judging undertaken by a past contestant chef; only the two with the best scores go through to the Friday judging.
In each series, the Friday show is when chefs present all courses of their menu to a judging panel, tasted and judged by Matthew Fort, Prue Leith and Oliver Peyton. One chef each week goes through to the final, where the judges taste the dishes again and award them marks out of ten. The three dishes that have scored the highest for each course are then put to the public vote.
During the first series, it was decided that a chef could only win one course overall, therefore any chef who won the public vote for a particular course was then eliminated from any subsequent courses they had been shortlisted for. As the results for all four courses were announced on the same day, some chefs were eliminated under this rule after the public had voted for them. This system may have contributed to the subsequent result of chefs from each of the four countries of the UK being represented at the final banquet. During series two, this rule was dropped, as highlighted by Mark Hix winning both the main course and dessert.
On 28 October 2016, it was confirmed that Prue Leith was leaving the show as of the episode airing that day and would be replaced by Andi Oliver for series 12 in 2017.
The birthday meal for the Queen was on 16 June 2006 and for 300 people, so each dish created had to be suitable for a summer banquet. All recipes have been published in a book by Dorling Kindersley.
From 11–15 December 2006, a special Christmas series was shown. This involved the four winning chefs creating a four course Christmas dinner that viewers could prepare at home.
...
Wikipedia