Celebrity chef. An overused and ubiquitous term, which over the years has come to be associated with all manner of TV cookery people, from the charity shop shelf dwelling, over the top Cheshire cat-like Ainsley Harriot, to the potty mouthed, three Michelin starred super chef that is Gordon Ramsay. And now, in this incredibly lucrative industry, every fame hungry, recipe twisting desperado TV cook imaginable, can claim celebrity chef status because they have an ample cleavage or promise a three-course meal can be prepared for the family in fifteen minutes. Even the new wave of television cooking competitions spawn alleged new talent who can help you reinvent classic dishes "their way", even though a matter of weeks ago they were accountants or shelf stackers in the local supermarket. Gone are the days when there were only a handful of television channels and when a cooking programme had to have some real substance to it. Once upon a time there was something worth watching when the celebrity chef or TV cook appeared on our screens. And reinventing the wheel or in the case of Lorraine Pascal, adding jam and sun-dried tomatoes to an Irish stew, have no place anywhere for me, never mind on my telly. But despite the danger of being called a dinosaur or being accused of fearing change, I should say that alongside Tom Kerridge there is one legendary celebrity chef cum TV cook that shall always be welcome in my living room or on my screen and that is the late, great Keith Floyd.
I grew up on Keith Floyd, and back in the days when I had little control over the evenings viewing, I just watched what my mother was watching. It wasn't a TV viewing dictatorship or even discussed much as I recall. My domain had been soon after school where I would watch the likes of Grange Hill and Take Hart and I just went with the flow once she had settled down for the evening. And other than the likes of Dallas, Falcon Crest and The Colby’s I can't really recall much else being on except Keith Floyd. It had a real impact on me then and he is still around today doing his thing thanks to the magic of television repeats, box sets and YouTube.
The television programmes that Keith Floyd starred in were genius. They had all the elements which made a television programme watchable. There was a charismatic presenter and there were interesting locations. There was often drama when mixing with the local towns folk and very often there was the unpredictability of what was going to happen in the next few seconds never mind the next few minutes. This was totally new to TV cooking and I was hooked from the first time I watched him. To me and millions like me he has become a TV cooking show legend and I would bet there are few people out there who love food that have never heard of him.
The thing about these programmes is that they were accessible to everyone. The busy 80s housewife could happily sit with her children and watch him make coq au vin on a picturesque French mountain side, just as much as the father could watch him cook langoustines on a battered fishing trawler in the middle of the North Sea with icy waves washing onto the deck. There was no swearing to offend and there was little innuendo which would have pleased granny and her knitting circle friends. Where there had previously been the fastidious cook in the TV studio getting everything just-so, along came the maverick in the outdoors, standing on the dock side talking to locals who often understood little of what he was saying, except the ingredients which had been bought from the market next to them
And I'm guessing Floyd loved the camera and being in front of it because he achieved a certain status and lifestyle from it, not only in the food industry but also to a wider audience where he became a household name. But it is a certainty that the camera loved him. He had flair and he had panache. He not only commanded the viewer while he was performing but he also commanded the film crew which was an absolute master stroke. The camera man, known to the masses as Clive, the sound man and director were no longer ignored in favour of the star of the show, because Keith Floyd spoke to them directly on camera and often directed them himself, which became one of his trademarks because there was no script. This was a refreshing way of presenting and there has been no one since who has done it with such success.
Although sadly it became his downfall, Keith Floyd's name became synonymous with drinking on telly and getting pissed in front of the camera. He wasn't the first to do it but it became what he was most associated with and it gave him a great deal of appeal to the viewer because he genuinely looked like he was enjoying himself. Just a little slurp of the local vino whilst cooking with it was part of the performance and the viewers loved it. And as a youngster who never really knew much about drinking to excess or otherwise, it was just part of the show to me and added another dimension without knowing why. It had a lot of appeal to the adults watching as it made him normal and they could relate to him on a similar level.
The fact that Keith Floyd came to a tragic end because of his alcoholism is a sad and tragic thing and a lesson that many people in the industry and farther should heed. And despite this unfortunate demise his legacy lives on and will continue to be influential to many people for many years to come. I would even suggest, with absolutely no evidence I hasten to add, that somewhere out there in television land, Keith Floyd's presenting style is being or has been used as a tool for wannabe TV presenters to sharpen their on-screen persona. And if it hasn't been it should, because it was just addictive viewing. He kept the viewers hooked and over the many years, introduced them to far flung destinations and cuisines that had never been seen with such candid enthusiasm and seemingly gay abandon. He was an absolute pleasure to watch and a half hour slot was never ever enough for me and probably the rest of his audience. Thirty minutes for each episode was just not long enough and a clear indicator that when you were itching for the next thrilling instalment they must have been doing something right.
So, I couldn't possibly talk about Keith Floyd without briefly mentioning David Pritchard, the television producer who was the man who "discovered" Keith Floyd. They met late one night in Keith’s Bristol bistro and discussed making a television programme together. Days later they were filming the beginning of what would become a hugely successful decade long relationship which had its fair share of ups as well as downs. David Pritchard, like the camera man, would sometimes appear on screen thanks to Keith Floyd's presenting antics and it would be fair to say that the pair had a symbiosis. Keith was clearly the star of the show but David was the creator of the carnival and the brains behind the often-anarchic output. David Pritchard's biography "Shooting the Cook" is well worth a read if you're interested in finding out more. In the book, he makes no secret of the rocky relationship he had with Floyd and maybe this is where some of the appeal of the programmes originates from. David later went on to work with Rick Stein and produced similar programmes which are also some of my favourites and its plain to see where the roots for these shows lay.
I'm just one of those people who is a sucker for a cookery programme and will watch just about anything food based with few exceptions. Combine it with travel and interesting places then I'm a goner because there is always something to learn about a new cuisine or a new place. And when I see Keith Floyd on the box it's a no brainer and the decision is already made, no matter how many times I have seen it. He was a real individual and for me can never matched. It's good entertainment. It's fun. And will always be my biggest influence.
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