At present I am doing a daily food programme called Great Food Live, formerly Good Food Live. Nick Thorogood, now at Channel Five, launched the programme for UKTV Food.
I was brought on board not because I knew anything about the gourmet side of things but because I was a pig and enjoyed opening my mouth and shoving things in it. I now know that such a person is called a foodie.
Nick’s brief was to create a channel dedicated to feasting and the love thereof. He wanted GFL, our fave acronym, to be food porn. He wanted viewers to ‘lick the screen.’ To help, I was assigned a stylist – the wonderful Lizzie Wilson – who had worked with the fuller figure, a fabby dresser, Angelina, my very own make-up artist, Caroline Mycock, and a photographer, Jim Marks. Between them they took a middle aged neurotic and turned her into a clothes horse.
Over five years there have been a lot of changes: the show, the bosses, but particularly me – I can honestly say that the person who did the pilot in Birmingham back in 2001 is unrecognisable. Nowadays I really do know what Cabinet Sauvignon smells like. I really do know how to make the perfect white stock and I have eaten everything from testicles to woodcock.
I have met more talented chefs than you can shake a whisk at and interviewed loads of inspirational people. The show has been a gift and I will be very, very sad when it goes.