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A gap of 15 years separates Chef! from Lenny Henry's first sitcom, The
Fosters (ITV, 1976-77), during which time, aside from two demi-sitcom series for
his Delbert Wilkins character, he had favoured sketch and stand-up. What really
marked out Chef!, however, was Henry's development as an actor. As the kitchen
tyrant Gareth Blackstock, he proved himself capable of representing a
multi-faceted character far beyond the caricatures of his sketch shows.
Created by Peter Tilbury from an idea by Henry, Chef! presented a largely unfamiliar menu of foodie humour - the pursuit of the perfect 'signature dish';
the horror of philistine diners who insist on adding salt; how to cope with an
upstart commis-chef who has just created a world-class partridge terrine. At the
same time, the series managed some acute observations on food and contemporary
Britain: the celebritisation of cuisine, the pathological obsession with
hygiene, the near impossibility of securing genuinely excellent produce in a
culture dominated by industrial farming and supermarket giants.
Chef! found its comedy in food snobbery, culinary ineptitude (missing
plasters and escaped crayfish, among other disasters) and the shadowy world of
black market ingredients, but most of all in the imaginatively savage insults
directed by the volatile Gareth at his staff, clientele, suppliers and - when
particularly brave - his wife and business partner, the indomitable Janice.
The state of the Blackstock marriage proved an enduring feature of the
series, with the obsessively focused Gareth routinely neglecting his wife, and
evidently much more at home in the kitchen than the bedroom. The long-suffering
Janice finally gave up hope by the end of season two, and the final series
showed the two attempting an amicable divorce. Another recurring theme was
looming financial collapse, brought on by Gareth's relentless pursuit of
perfection; by the end, control of the restaurant was in the hands of the
boorish, nouveau-riche Cyril Bryson.
Henry's career has been one of quiet breakthroughs, and the character of
Gareth Blackstock - a black authority figure defined by his gastronomic genius,
arrogance and 'artistic temperament' (here, as ever, an excuse for primadonna
behaviour), but almost never by his race - would have been all but unthinkable
even a few years earlier.
Naturally, the food looked fantastic, thanks to a kitchenful of consultant
chefs. But so too did the series, the first UK sitcom to be shot entirely on
film - although it reverted to video for the weaker season three.
Mark Duguid
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1. Salmon mousse (3:59)
