Ready, Steady, Cook

I remember watching Ready Steady Cook since it first started as a 'quiet' little cookery show in 1994 on BBC2. We had the matronly Fern Britton keeping "her boys" in check (Ainsley Harriot, Brian Turner and Antony Worrall-Thompson were always the most unruly) while showing that you CAN make a good meal in 20 minutes from unknown ingredients. It was fun then, and it still is now Ainsley has graduated from chef to host and added a 'quickie-bag round' thereby extending the show from 30 to 45 minutes but still as exciting as before, especially now we can see the votes as a handy little line graph on the screen! Long may it continue!

I like it when the capsicum wins. I suspect it is rigged but

The famous catchphrase of the show. The show shown on weekdays at 4.30pm on BBC2 is a mixture of entertainment and cookery. All of the chefs have different personalities but are brilliant at what they do. There is now a celebrity edition of the show where celebrities cook and get some money to go to charity.

I sometimes watch Ready, Steady, Cook at my mate's, if the TV is on and happens to be on BBC2, who I visit twice a week.

Two contestants come on the show with around £5-£10 worth of food and with the help of two celebrity chefs, they have to make up a meal in just 20 minutes. This is usually achieved and the winner wins a food hamper I think.

The show is currently presented by Ainsley Harriott, who also helps out a little. After each show, I think the food is not wasted and is eaten by the contestants and chefs.

Ready, Steady, Cook does have some bad points though. The contestants tend to show off at times, along with Ainsley. Another annoying thing is the audience shouting out the last 10 seconds of the countdown, which we can see for ourselves on the screen.

Overall, quite enjoyable despite these bad points.

This programme is good at what it does. It combines cooking with a gameshow genre and creates an interesting hybrid. Viewers can see chefs attempting to make a decent meal, within a twenty minute time limit. The meals produced at the end are often of a high quality and the presenter, Ainsley Harriot, helps the action along with questions and quips.

The problem comes thanks to the time limit that the chefs are given. Fans of cooking shows will be disappointed to discover that it is impossible to follow all the action. The chefs are constantly rushing around in a feigned attempt to get things finished in the time limit. Because of this we hardly ever see the actual food cooking and also you are left not knowing how they actually created the meal.

It is an interesting and entertaining programme, but I would not recommend it for serious cookery fans.