TV review: The Great Cookbook Challenge with Jamie Oliver

The Great Cookbook Challenge with Jamie Oliver 1/7, Monday 31st January, 8pm, Channel 4

Cookbooks. There’s gold in them there hills, I’m tellin’ you. I’ve just been and counted how many cookbooks we have. It’s ridiculous. The answer is 78. I mean, who on earth needs 78 cookbooks??? Certainly not me. I’m more of a pierce film lid and wait for the microwave to go ‘ping’ sort of a chap. Luckily for our kids, who would otherwise doubtless develop rickets or scurvy, my wife is the culinary brains of our household, but even then, she doesn’t tend to use cookbooks very often. And still we have 78 of the blighters, taking up shelf space that could instead be displaying all my trophies. If I’d ever won any trophies.

We’ve even got a cookbook by Sid Owen, who played Ricky in EastEnders. It’s called Life on a Plate. I don’t think we’ve ever used it, apart from to keep our bin lid shut when it kept popping open a few years ago. And the other day, I saw that the rapper Snoop Dogg has a cookbook out, called From Crook to Cook. These days he’s on adverts advising us to order takeaway food using Just Eat, so he could be accused of sending somewhat mixed messages.

Anyway, cookbooks. They’re ubiquitous. But if you’re not a rapper, or a soap star, or a TV chef, it’s a pretty tough market to break into. Which is where this new series comes in. It’s a search for the nation’s best new cookbook writer, and the prize is a lucrative publishing deal. The 18 would-be cookbook writers, chosen from hundreds of applicants, range from enthusiastic home cooks to professional chefs. Mentored by the great Jamie Oliver, who has published a staggering 25 cookbooks, the first round sees them all cook one of their dishes for the judges, and explain the concept of their cookbook.

As you’d expect, the judges really know their onions. And probably quite a lot of food even more exotic than onions (I don’t get out much). They are food critic Jimi Famuwera, acclaimed cookbook writer Georgina Hayden, and Penguin Michael Joseph director Louise Moore.

In this opening episode, the first six contestants cook up a storm in Jamie’s flashy London HQ. First up is Patrick, a trainee surgeon. I’d have been a bit suspicious if his dishes all involved kidneys, liver and heart, but thankfully his grand concept is bread. All of his dishes are accompanied by a particular type of bread, which is a brave pitch in a world where we are constantly told to cut down on carbs.

Callum, 22, is much more in tune with the zeitgeist. His concept is quick, healthy, simple vegan food. I know we should all be going vegan, really I do, but life without butter would barely be worth the bother. And he’s a social media influencer. He’s cooking spaghetti with peasto. No, that’s not a typo. It’s pesto made with peas.

Katie used to be a vegetarian, but her schtick is now about eating meat ethically. She’s serving rabbit. Elleni is a professional chef, with Cypriot heritage. Her idea is Greek vegetarian food. So she’s cooking, um, a risotto, which is about as Greek as I am. Rex is a professional chef from the Philippines, with a mission to bring Filipino food to the British public. I like Rex, and I like the look of his food, but he says Filipino cuisine uses a lot of vinegar, which is without doubt the worst substance on earth. I’d rather eat uranium.

Caroline is a retired drama teacher. Her cookbook is an homage to her mother, who was a wartime refugee from Austria. She’s making a Viennese chocolate cake, part of her mission to bring Austrian food to the masses. She’s got some lovely photos of her mum, and it’s a touching concept, but would you really buy a book called “From Schintzel to Gugelhupf”?

And so to the judging. Only two of the six go through, which is a fairly heavy cull, which is kind of welcome after the endless episodes of MasterChef, where it feels like one person is eliminated every lunar cycle.

I like this show. It feels like a fresh new addition to the competition format, and one where the contestants are passionate and talented, and the prize is something genuinely worth having. Who knows, maybe in a few months’ time, we’ll have cookbook number 79 sitting proudly on our shelves.

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Winter Olympics: Opening Ceremony, Friday 4th February, 11:30am, BBC One

And so to the 24th Winter Olympics, taking place, rather bizarrely, in Beijing. I say bizarrely, because the place isn’t exactly mountainous. Or indeed snowy. You might as well host them in Djibouti. Presumably they’ve found some snow somewhere, but I very much suspect it’s not particularly close to Beijing.

That’s not the only thing that’ll be weird about these Olympics. Once again, the whole thing’s been banjaxed by ruddy Covid which, call me a grumpy old git, I’m beginning to find ever so slightly irksome. And then there’s the ethics of holding the games in a country that has a rather loose approach to human rights.

But Beijing it is, so let’s make the best of it. And it should be a cracking couple of weeks of sporting action. A record 109 gold medals are up for grabs, and if you can name all 109 disciplines, I’ll mint you a gold medal myself. The BBC is showing over 300 hours of live coverage on BBC One, Two, iPlayer and the Red Button.

Rather selfishly, the Chinese have chosen to host events in the daytime which (a) means it’ll take place mostly at night for us, and (b) denies us the opportunity of watching night-time downhill skiing, which would really add an element of jeopardy to proceedings. Live coverage will run from midnight to midday, with a nightly highlights programme at 7pm on BBC Two, presented by the wonderful Clare Balding. As with the Tokyo Olympics, the presenters will not be at the games, thanks to you-know-what, but will instead helm proceedings from Media City in Salford, in a virtual reality ski lodge. Seriously.

Tonight sees the opening ceremony, which should be a spectacular curtain-raiser for the games. Proceedings are directed by Oscar-nominated film director Zhang Yimou, who fulfilled the same role at the Beijing Summer Olympics opening ceremony.

As for the sport, and British medal chances, Team GB is targeting between three and seven medals. Among those with the best chance are Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Mouat in the mixed doubles curling, who are the reigning world champions. Another world champion is Charlotte Bankes, in the Women’s Snowboard Cross. Bankes has competed for France at two previous Olympics, and starts among the favourites in her competition. In the Freestyle Skiing Slopestyle (don’t worry, all of the sports will be explained by Auntie Clare) James Woods will be hoping to go one better after finishing 5th in Sochi and 4th in Pyeongchang.

Sibling rivalry will be to the fore in the Women’s Freestyle Skiing, with sisters Izzy and Zoe both among the medal contenders. Izzy was Britain’s first ever skiing Olympic medallist in 2018, and both won medals at last year’s World Championships. Snowboarder Katie Ormerod was rated as GB’s best chance for a medal in the 2018 Olympics, before injury forced her to withdraw from the team. She’ll be hoping to rectify that this time around in the slopestyle and big air events.

As ever, Britain’s bobsleigh teams will be in with a shout, with Brad Hall piloting both the 2-man and 4-man bobs, ranked 5th and 4th in the world respectively. And skeleton, which has been a fruitful sport for Team GB at past Olympics, represents another decent medal chance, with Matt Weston and Laura Deas highly rated. Deas will be hoping to improve on the bronze she won behind Lizzy Yarnold’s gold in 2018.

And, most intriguingly of all, there is Dave Ryding. The alpine skiing events are the equivalent of the athletics at the summer games – they’re the blue riband events. In January, Ryding, a 35-year-old veteran of the ski circuit, recorded the UK’s first ever win in a world cup ski race. Could he feature on the podium in Beijing? Crazier things have happened…

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The best… and the rest:

Saturday 29th January

Big Night of Musicals by the National Lottery, 7pm, BBC One: Jason Manford hosts a musical extravaganza from the AO Manchester Arena, featuring the casts of some of the country’s most popular musicals belting out their biggest numbers.

Elaine Paige at the BBC, 8:30pm, BBC Two: It’s certainly a night for musical lovers on the BBC, with this look back at Elaine Paige’s many appearances on the BBC. Afterwards, a night of programmes dedicated to the songbird includes a documentary about the musical Evita, and Elaine in concert.

Sunday 30th January

Celebrity Hunted 1/6, 9pm, Channel 4: Return of the series that sees pairs of celebrities go on the run across the UK, chased by teams of hunters. It’s all jolly good fun, even if you don’t have the foggiest who any of the celebrities actually are.

Monday 31st January

The Teacher 1/4, 9pm, Channel 5: Any drama with Sheridan Smith should be worth watching. This one, showing on four consecutive nights, sees her playing a teacher accused of sleeping with a 15-year-old pupil.

Tuesday 1st February

Great British Menu, 8pm, BBC Two: Return of the series that sees chefs cook against each other for the right to create a course at a lavish banquet, this time celebrating 100 years of British broadcasting.

Thursday 3rd February

Kate Garraway’s Life Stories 1/3, 9pm, ITV: The journalist and presenter takes the helm from Piers Morgan, and conducts an honest and in depth interview with Charlotte Church.

Mary Beard’s Forbidden Art, 9pm, BBC Two: The academic and presenter examines some of the most controversial works in the history of art with her trademark intelligence and wit.

Friday 4th February

Live FA Cup Football, 7:30pm, ITV: Manchester United take on a resurgent Middlesbrough in the fourth round of the FA Cup, the oldest competition in football.

Susan Calman’s Grand Day Out 1/5, 8pm, Channel 5: The Scottish comedian embarks on another tour of the nation’s seaside hotspots, beginning with a trip to the stretch of Devon coastline known as the English Riviera.

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