Rachel Khoo The TV That Made Me

TV. The magic box of delights.

As kids, it showed us a million different worlds

all from our living room.

This takes me right back.

That's so embarrassing.

I am genuinely shocked.

Each day I'm going to journey through the wonderful world

of telly with one of our favourite celebrities.

It's just so silly.

Oh! I love it!

Is it Mr Benn?

-Shut it!

-As they select the iconic TV moments...

Oh, hello.

..that tell us the stories of their lives.

Oh, my God.

-Cheers.

-Some will make you laugh...

..some will surprise...

QUACKQUACK!

-..many will inspire...

-Ooh!

Look at this. Why wouldn't you want to watch this?

..and others will move us.

Seeing that there made a huge impact on me.

Got a handkerchief?

So come watch with us

as we rewind to the classic telly that shaped those

wide-eyed youngsters into the much-loved stars they are today.

Welcome to the TV That Made Me. My guest today has

all the ingredients to make her a true TV star.

She's the one and only Rachel Khoo!

-Hi!

-Welcome.

Come and sit yourself down.

Creative, beautiful and one hell of a cook,

the delightful Rachel Khoo has become a household name

thanks to her Little Paris Kitchen.

The TV that made her includes a firm favourite for her foodie family.

A Broom Cupboard bird that had her in stitches.

And an inspirational chef.

Now, Rachel, I was going to knock you something nice

-but will a cup of tea do?

-Yes, it's fine.

-Yeah?

I'm happy with a cup of tea.

-Are you excited about this trip down memory lane?

-I am super-excited!

I can't wait to see what you've got lined up.

Going to show some TV highlights, things that you have chosen,

things that you probably haven't seen since they very first

came out but, first up,

we're going to have a look at a very young Rachel Khoo.

Born and raised in South London,

Rachel Khoo grew up with her Austrian mother,

who was a secretary,

a Malay Chinese dad, who worked in IT,

and her younger brother, Michael.

After a spell living in Germany,

Rachel moved back to the UK

where she did a degree in art and design in London.

A developing passion for patisserie then drew Rachel to Paris where

she graduated from the Cordon Bleu culinary school.

She soon established herself as an author and Rachel's third book,

The Little Paris Kitchen, hit our TV sets in 2012.

Since then, she has continued to travel the world

bringing all manner of cuisine to our screens whilst juggling

her life as a bestselling writer.

So, how important was TV?

Um...TV was very important because my parents were super-strict

about watching TV as a kid.

I remember as a kid with my brother we lived in our house in Bromley,

we had the hatches from the kitchen, and it was linked to the TV room,

the lounge, and on Saturday morning, we would squeeze ourselves through.

I'm assuming they would lock the latch door.

Yeah, they locked the lounge door so we would squeeze ourselves through

the hatch but we were little so we could manage

through the hatch and then go and watch Saturday morning TV.

-Because you wasn't allowed to?

-No, we weren't allowed to watch...

-Why was you not allowed to watch?

-Because my parents thought TV

was a bad thing. Or too much TV.

Yeah, you know? So when we heard the rumble upstairs,

parents are coming down,

it was like, "Quick, get through the hatch again!"

Now, we're going to start with your earliest TV memory.

Which TV cupboard really stuck with the young Rachel Khoo?

If you're wondering what all these are, they're tomatoes.

'Oh, my goodness.'

-Edd the Duck!

-So you don't go, "Oh, Andi Peters," you go,

-"Oh, Edd the Duck."

-Oh, come on, who was the star?

It was Edd the Duck.

Although I have met Andi Peters and he's pretty amazing, too,

but Edd the Duck.

Look, I mean, what's not to love about Edd the Duck?

QUACK QUACK

First of all...

-QUACK QUACK

-You've got to have...

QUACK QUACK QUACK

Green fingers. You have got green fingers, very nice.

The phone's ringing.

The children's BBC Broom Cupboard launched in 1985.

Live from a tiny room, presenters would introduce the shows

for that afternoon with their furry co-host beside them.

Did you love the way he translated?

Yes, exactly.

Why are you speaking in that funny accent?

-QUACK QUACK QUACK

-Because he's a gah-dener, you see.

And you have manure as a gah-dener, don't you?

RACHEL LAUGHS

Sorry, it still entertains me.

What do you mean it's not ready yet?

No, be quiet.

Let me pick it...

Now I think, like, who's the person kind of going like that?

You like one of those ones. No, I think we'll have this one, Edd.

No, I think we'll have this one...

Edd the Duck was a big influence on you?

He was like the first kind of TV show I remember as a kid.

You know, the one after school,

coming home from primary school

putting the TV on and you'd see Edd the Duck

and they'd be chatting about something.

The problem with Edd the Duck

was that you never knew when he was going to pop up.

SHE SQUEAKS

APPLAUSE

Hello, Edd! How are you, mate?

Oh, my goodness!

I'm suddenly, like, "Celebrity in the house."

-Do you want to give him a little stroke?

-Hi, Edd.

-There you go.

-I love your jumper!

Yeah, it's got 'Edd.' We've got a little game for you to play.

-OK.

-I shall translate. What is that, Edd?

QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK

You want her to name...

QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK

As many of the Broom Cupboard presenters...

as you can.

QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK

And if you can name four...

Oh, no!

..Edd will come and live with you in your house for ever...

QUACK QUACK QUACK QUACK

..as long as she promises never to cook orange sauce.

OK. All right.

I won't cook duck a l'orange.

So...

I've got a card here and I'll be able to tell.

OK, there's only one.

There's obviously Andi Peters. And then Phillip Schofield I remember.

-Andy Crane.

-He's another good one.

And then I can't remember anybody else.

Can you give me some clues?

Johnny Ball's daughter.

Oh! Zoe Ball.

-Yes!

-Well done.

You got four. You pleased with that?

-I'm very pleased.

-Edd will come and live with you.

So, Edd, go and pack your bags and duck down.

QUACK QUACK

Edd the Duck!

Woo! Yay!

I never thought I would ever meet Edd the Duck.

Of course, Edd the Duck isn't the only famous puppet

to appear in the Broom Cupboard. Oh, no.

A cheeky little gopher named Gordon first found fame there

with Phillip Schofield in 1985.

So successful were the duo they went on to team up

on the hit Saturday morning show Going Live.

Otis the Aardvark was another puppet that co-presented on CBBC.

He also went on to make appearances on other shows

including Fully Booked,

Live and Kicking

and a special puppet edition of The Weakest Link.

Nowadays, the main puppet on the BBC block is Hacker T Dog.

Hailing from Wigan,

this naughty but lovable presenter is also CBBC's canine journalist

and talk-show host.

But, as far as I'm concerned, they're all just puppets.

So, Rachel, who did you watch the Broom Cupboard with?

I mainly watched the Broom Cupboard with my younger brother, Michael,

-who's three years younger than me and...

-Because he could

-fit through the hole.

-He could fit through the hatch!

And then I had

my next-door neighbours,

they had two girls who I used to hang out with who were my age and

sometimes they'd come over to ours to watch TV

or sometimes we go over to theirs to watch TV.

So did you have TV in your bedroom?

No TV in the bedroom but my parents had a little telly.

You know, I'm going to show my age, but the ones you had to

press the buttons on. If you pressed one,

the four would pop up, so whatever channel you wanted to watch.

And we weren't allowed to watch Neighbours.

-Really?

-No Neighbours.

-Why not?

-I don't know, my mum thought it's not a good influence.

So I would sneak up around five o'clock and go watch it.

And then when I hear the steps at the door,

hide under the bed,

so quickly switch off and then squeeze under the bed.

Make sure nobody spots me.

So there was a lot of secret TV viewing.

-Yeah.

-Your parents were very strict.

What did they allow you to watch?

Erm... Newsround.

-Newsround.

-Yes, Blue Peter, of course.

That was all right.

Like, anything from 5pm onwards wasn't really allowed.

-The next choice, Rachel, is Must See TV but before we do...

-Ah.

..I've got a little surprise.

OK. Oh, I don't know about your surprises.

I've been in the kitchen, I've been cooking.

Oh, wow.

-And...

-What have you made?

-What do you think it looks like?

-You've made lasagne!

I have. I haven't, I bought it.

-I don't think you have these containers.

-No.

When you look at lasagne, what does it remind you of?

-What TV programme?

-Garfield.

I had a really big thing for Garfield.

My brother and I had a really big thing for Garfield

the cartoon and we loved Garfield

so much we would make our mum make lasagne.

And you would eat that while watching Garfield.

-Yes.

-Here's my remote.

-OK.

-Press play.

Here it is. Garfield.

Ladies and gentlemen, Garfield and Friends.

I haven't seen this in years!

Based on cartoonist Jim Davis' comic strip called Garfield,

this hilarious animated series

featured the adventures of a lovable lazy cat and his friends.

I loved, obviously, Garfield

but the relationship between Garfield and Odie.

-Odie the dog, of course.

-Odie the dog.

We're starving away to nothingness

and all you can think about is going out?

So what was it about that relationship that you loved so much?

Garfield was always so miserable and all he did was sleep and eat, which

for me is pretty much amazing.

I love to sleep and eat, and then Odie would just be

oblivious to everything.

And just so joyful and up for everything.

You know, no matter what happened, he'd go for it and Garfield's like,

"Oh! No!"

Grumpy, grumpy.

Famed for his fondness of food,

lasagne-loving Garfield's life generally revolved around

sleeping and, not surprisingly, stuffing his face.

Sorry, cat. We close at eight sharp.

You can't do this to me.

-You can't!

-'I've done that.

'I went to Japan'

and I was in Tokyo and I found this little noodle place

I really wanted to go to

and it wasn't open so I was banging on the door.

I was knocking on the neighbour's door and I don't speak Japanese

and I was like... "Where's the noodle man!

"Where's the noodle soup?"

I think Garfield and I have a lot in common because food for us means

so much and it's always so dramatic when there's no food.

So we've spoken about the lasagne,

that you used to eat while watching Garfield, this passion for food,

was that at a very early age?

-Yes.

-Was it your family?

Does your family revolve around food?

Family definitely revolves around food.

So, my mum's Austrian.

And I remember, as a kid, my grandma in Austria,

she'd make strudel, and Sachertorte, and schnitzel,

and all the delicious Austrian food,

and I'd do a lot of baking with my mum as a kid, bake some gingerbread,

so I started baking a lot when I was young.

And then my dad's from Malaysia, and in Malaysia, when you see somebody,

you don't ask them how you are, you ask, "Have you eaten yet?"

That is the first line.

Because knowing the response from that,

it would be always how you are, so if you hadn't eaten,

then you obviously weren't well and you needed to go and eat.

You know, the priorities are well-balanced in Malaysia.

-Yeah.

-So food has always been really a big part of my culture,

my growing up.

We didn't really have TV dinners when we were little.

So it was always we sat round the table,

um...

we had a few snacks after school,

um...my mum made...sometimes she made toffee popcorn,

or she used to do fairy cakes.

-Oh, right.

-So once in a while we were allowed treats

in front of the TV. So, yeah, but no, kind of, TV dinners.

And then when you were quite young, you then moved to Germany.

Yeah, when I was 12, we moved to Germany.

And so everything was in German.

I didn't watch that much German kids' TV.

I watched more, like, American TV series.

Rachel, we're going to move on to your Guilty Pleasure now.

It's an underwater sci-fi,

and this particular episode contains talking dolphins.

-Do you know what the programme is?

-I think I do.

-It's SeaQuest.

RACHEL LAUGHS

-Why do you laugh?

-Because I haven't seen it

since I watched it as a teenager.

But I was obsessed with this programme.

Really?

Steven Spielberg's futuristic sci-fi show SeaQuest DSV

was set in the early 21st century,

when mankind have colonised the last unexplored region on Earth -

the ocean.

Labelled "a wet space opera," its characters and storylines

could have been equally at home on the Starship Enterprise.

I was so obsessed, I had a massive fight with my mum for not letting me

-watch it one day.

-Really?

She wanted me to do some cleaning and help out in the house,

and I was like, "I've got to watch it!"

You know, it's, "Something dramatic's going to happen!"

So was you in Germany at the time?

Yeah, I was in Germany at the time, so it was dubbed.

So it wasn't even the original, they had funny German voices.

-Oh, right.

-General, he's a dolphin, not a spy.

Sir, you can't put him in just any ecology.

He's going to get sick in there.

Your mammal is responsible for a breach in UEO security.

Until we find out who he's talking to, we intend to keep an eye on him.

My friend, have you been sending messages?

'It was set in the future, this is 2018.'

'It's 2018? That's in, like, two years' time!

'I know, I know!'

'I've gone blank on his name, but that young guy with his,

'like, tousled hair...'

-Yeah.

-..I had the biggest crush on him.

I think he was my first TV crush.

His name was Jonathan Brandis.

-Jonathan Brandis.

-I had a poster of him on my wall in my room.

Look at it. I don't think we're going to sneak him

a flounder with a file in it.

The captain of the SeaQuest was played by the late,

great Roy Scheider, who's best known as Chief Brody in Jaws.

Which meant he was well accustomed to performing

with these very lifelike animatronic sea creatures.

Thankfully, Darwin the dolphin was much less frightening than Jaws.

-Who's returning?

-Invitation.

Co-operation.

'So was it for the brilliant storylines you watched this for,

'or was it cos you had a crush?'

Well, what do you think?

Come on, I was a teenage girl, all the crazy hormones.

It was him and Take That.

Hey!

-The aliens?

-Visitors coming.

It would be funny to watch this now and see what kind of technology

they're using.

I withheld very important information from these people.

I'm lucky I'm not in jail.

'I think the dolphin was the best actor in that scene!'

RACHEL LAUGHS

'Hey, don't slate my Jonathan!'

'Oh, really!'

So, was you a bit of a sci-fi geek?

-I don't think...

-Or was it really, purely down to Jonathan?

I think it was purely down to Jonathan.

-Oh, really?

-If he was on I was, like, glued to the TV.

Yeah. So that's the first time you've heard him speak English.

Yes, he had a very different German voice.

-Yeah?

-Yeah, it wasn't very...

I think it was a bit more high-pitched, actually!

High-pitched, a bit like the dolphin, really.

Yeah! Bit like the dolphin.

I don't know why... Well, I know why I watched it,

but now watching it I'm like, "Oh, my goodness."

My taste has evolved.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

-Just slightly.

I don't think this would be my guilty pleasure any more.

-No?

-No, no.

Rachel, obviously your mum approved of Garfield,

but here's one cartoon that she didn't approve of.

-'The Simpsons.

-Yes.

'What I always wanted to watch out at the beginning

'was what was Bart writing, what was the thing he was writing?

'And then the moment on the sofa.

-'Yeah.

-They always used to change that, didn't they?

-'Exactly.

-They still do.'

What's going to happen this time,

cos that would be the element of surprise.

Give it up, Dad, Petey ain't coming back.

'One of TV's favourite families, the Simpsons,

'originally appeared on the Tracey Ullman Show.

'In 1989, they got their very own programme, and after 27 seasons,

'it's the longest-running animated series ever.'

-I'm going to my room!

-That's it, go to your room!

-Oh, no!

-Wonderful parenting skills going on there.

Fantastic, yeah.

And it's so well written.

It is. They have a very talented team of writers.

Do you think you were a bit like Lisa?

Well, I play the saxophone.

-Oh, do you really?

-Well, I used to, I used to, and so, I was like,

"Lisa and I, yeah!

"We have some affinity."

I never could play it as good as Lisa, though.

My... The noise which comes out the saxophone when I play it,

-it's a bit dubious.

-Yeah?

I used to have to stick a tennis ball in my saxophone

so the neighbours wouldn't hear it so much.

Marge, since I'm not talking to Lisa, would you please ask her

to pass me the syrup?

Please pass your father the syrup, Lisa.

'It can take between six to eight months to create one episode.

'Six to eight months?!

'Wow! That's crazy!'

Tell Bart I just want to drink a nice glass of syrup

-like I do every morning.

-Tell him yourself,

you're ignoring Lisa, not Bart.

Bart, thank your mother for pointing that out.

Homer, you're not not talking to me, and secondly, I heard what you said.

1989, it started.

-I know!

-And what do you think of the relationship within the family?

Yeah, it's, um... It's interesting to see how,

you know... Well, Marge is the strong woman,

and she's the one who's in charge, and Homer's always messing up.

Lisa, tell your mother to get off my case.

Dad, Lisa's the one you're not talking to.

-Bart, go to your room!

-Why don't you just eat him, Dad?

I don't need any serving suggestions from you,

you barbecue-wrecking, know-nothing know-it-all!

Lisa's quite stubborn.

Yes, exactly, but that's like me, I am super stubborn.

I always get my way, it's my way or no way.

I can't live in a house with this prehistoric carnivore!

I am out of here!

-HOMER:

-That's it! Go to your room!

And Bart, he's always up to mischief.

-Yeah.

-I think that's good fun.

And what did you love about the show?

I mean, it's still going, it's just going on and on.

-It's amazing, but...

-We've all grown up with it.

As a kid, I just thought it was fun.

But then, the older you get, you...

the references they make to popular culture is very interesting,

some of the celebrities they have on it.

You know, the humour works for both old and young.

Wow, Paul McCartney!

I read about you in history class.

But where's your wife, Linda?

Right here, Lisa. Whenever we're in Springfield,

we like to hang out in Apu's garden in the shade.

We met him in India years ago during the Maharishi days.

So, Rachel, how did you get a sneaky peek of The Simpsons?

By then, we had a remote control for the TV.

That your brother let you borrow?

Yes, cos we both wanted to watch The Simpsons.

Oh, I thought you both had a remote!

One each.

And so we would work together on our strategy

-on how we could watch The Simpsons.

-So you formed an alliance.

Exactly. I formed an alliance with my brother to watch The Simpsons.

We would first research what other channels had something

-my mum would be OK with.

-This is great!

And it would be, literally,

you wanted to go for a number between one and nine,

so you could switch quick, because otherwise,

if you had to do double digits,

it was too complicated on the remote control.

-Yeah.

-So it would have to be between channel one and nine.

So we'd do our research beforehand, so we'd put The Simpsons on,

and then we'd know which channel we had to switch to.

-So, did your mum ever rumble you?

-Yes.

-Yes!

We weren't quick enough with the...

Like, we had to, you know, more training with the fingers, I think.

Yeah. So we did get caught once or twice.

Yeah.

The Simpsons hold the record for the most guest stars

featured in a TV series, like the Oscar-winning actor Dustin Hoffman,

who played substitute teacher Mr Bergstrom,

a character who Lisa developed a huge crush on.

A love interest of Bart's was also voiced by an Oscar winner.

The amazing Meryl Streep

played Bart's wisecracking girlfriend Jessica Lovejoy.

A whole host of music legends appeared as part

of a rock and roll fantasy camp that Homer attended,

including Mick Jagger, Keith Richards,

Lenny Kravitz and Elvis Costello.

Elizabeth Taylor even got in on the Simpsons action

when she voiced baby Maggie's first-ever word - "Daddy."

And, finally, one of the most famous guest appearances has to be

from the late Michael Jackson.

He featured as the voice of a psychiatric patient

who believed he was the King of Pop.

When it came to singing a song on the show,

Michael's record company refused to allow it,

so Jackson hand-picked someone to sing just like him.

And we're going to move on to your next choice now.

-Mm-hmm.

-A show that had you all huddled around the TV.

This is your Family Favourite.

-'What's it called?

-Food and Drink!

-'Food and Drink.

-I remember that theme tune!

'Undoubtedly a trailblazer when it comes to foodie telly,

'the original series of Food and Drink had viewers hooked

'from 1982 to 2001.

'Regularly presented by Chris Kelly and the late Michael Barry,

'the hit show also made household names of wine experts

'Oz Clarke and Jilly Goolden.

'The series wasn't just about good food and wine.

'It also tackled hard-hitting topical news stories

'such as the BSE crisis, and exposed dodgy products.

'And it saw early appearances of many of today's celebrity chefs,

'including Jamie Oliver.'

That was the one TV show we were allowed to stay up for.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah.

Because your family, your mum, your dad,

they were passionate about food,

-as well?

-Yeah, they loved to watch, you know, this show.

-It was really popular at that time!

-Oh, it was very popular.

-Yeah.

This is what happens if you take the front off,

show you what goes on inside.

Whacky wine critic Jilly Goolden is known fondly

for teaching the nation to sniff, sip and swill.

So the wine doesn't get spoilt by oxidation.

Incidentally, this valve is so powerful

that when you've emptied the bag,

you can blow it up and use it as a beach pillow when it's finished.

-OK!

-There you go!

-I didn't know that!

-You'd be so drunk you won't bother with it.

-No!

You'd just be collapsed.

I did always wonder how they, you know,

drink everything and not end up a little bit tipsy on the show.

Yeah, yeah. And of course, she...

Jilly always had a wonderful way of explaining the bouquet of a certain

-drink.

-She would always use words - as a kid I would be like, "Ooh,

"what does that mean?"

And the kind of facial expressions.

Yeah.

I wonder if she had to warm up beforehand.

Yeah, yeah, yeah!

-We've got a little game...

-OK.

..that we would like you to warm up to.

-Yeah.

-A little wine-tasting game.

-Ooh!

-Excuse me while I go to the kitchen. A little...

Oh, blimey, I knocked the door there, I nearly lost them.

-Don't trip up now!

-No, I won't.

So we've got three bottles of wine here.

-Uh-huh.

-And, of course, Jilly was always wonderful at explaining

how the aroma of the wine, you know, felt and tasted.

Yeah. Very creative.

Yes. We've got three bottles of wine,

and we'll be showing you three vintage clips from Jilly.

-But, firstly, you've got to taste it.

-OK.

-So is that A?

-I think that's A.

-Oh, right, they you go, so you're sober!

Yeah, let's make the most of this.

So have a little sniff. Oh, and, er,

I've got a little cup here if you wish to spit it out,

if you want to be all professional, or you're just going to drink it.

I'm just going to drink it!

I can swirl it around, and you're supposed to look at the tears.

So when Jilly tasted this wine, did she say,

"It tastes of rainy days and Mondays,"

"It tastes like bracken shoots on a hot heath,"

or C, "It's like a bag of chips with a pickled egg."

Bag of chips with a pickled egg!

Erm...

Yeah, go with A.

You're going to go with A, tastes like rainy days and Mondays.

-Let's find out.

-Mmm!

Bracken shoots on a hot heath, absolutely wonderful!

Oh, the correct answer was B,

it tastes like bracken shoots on a hot heath.

Oh, but rainy days! So, so poetic!

Let's see if you can get the next one right.

So, when Jilly tasted this one, did she say,

"It has hints of peanut butter and jam,"

"It tastes like dry, salty fish,"

"It's got a lovely, buxom quality with pert acidity

"and a slick of green apples"?

I think there's definitely something pert about this white wine.

Right, so you're going with the slick of green apples.

Mmm!

Buxom quality, but with pert acidity and a lovely sort of

-slick of green apple.

-Yes!

Yes, well done!

Yay!

Well done. Rachel, here's your final one.

-All right.

-So when Jilly tasted this one, did she say,

"It has an undercurrent of village ponds."

Do I really want to drink it with village...?

"It tastes like a fireplace dusted with icing sugar,"

or C, "We're getting a bit bathroomy,

"this one is just like bath salts,

"but lovely bath salts"?

Let's go with the bath salts.

Now this one is just like bath salts when you get there,

absolutely extraordinary, lovely bath salts, of course.

-Yes!

-You are correct, well done indeed!

APPLAUSE

You have a very good palate - two out of three is not bad.

It's not bad, with a cold as well!

-Yeah, yeah, yeah,!

-Ah!

-Very impressed.

-Yes!

-So do you like your wine?

Erm... I do like my wine, but I'm no expert.

-No?

-For me, it's all about personal choice, you know,

whether you enjoy... you pick a wine and you enjoy it,

it doesn't need to be expensive, or a certain price,

or from a certain region,

new world, old world, I'm not snobby in that sense.

Why was Food and Drink such a popular programme for you?

I think for me it was, like, "What are they cooking this week?"

And they always discovered a new ingredient,

and I remember my mum told me, olive oil, back in the '80s,

you had to go buy at the chemist.

-Really?

-Yes, you couldn't buy olive oil in the shop.

-Oh, really?

-So when, Food and Drink,

they obviously were discovering all these new ingredients and stuff

like that, and they were discussing olive oil, and my mum, "Yeah,

"I already use olive oil, but you have to go buy it at the chemist's."

Isn't that interesting?

I never knew that. The winning combination of recipes,

wine and foodie news made Food and Drink a big hit with viewers.

This is what you normally get in a takeaway.

It's rather bright red, it's spicy and very hot,

the colours are unnecessary.

That colour's achieved not because of spices,

but because of use of a food colouring.

-There you go!

-So you learnt a lot from your mum, would you say?

I definitely learnt a lot from my mum, cos my mum cooked

every, you know, every day for us and it was a home-cooked meal.

-And you cooked with her?

-Well, I...

I wanted to help out with the baking, you know?

The cooking I wasn't so interested.

My brother was, like, always up for cooking, more so.

He made a good spaghetti Bolognese.

-Oh, really?

-Yep. I was more baking.

Obviously, we always had to help out with setting the table, washing up,

drying up, stuff like that, peeling potatoes.

And we had a garden allotment.

-Oh, right.

-And during the summer, we always had beans.

-Green beans with everything.

-Yes!

-And I was like...

"Do we have to have more green beans?" You know?

But now, I think, "Green beans from the garden?

"What's more amazing?" You know, fresh, crunchy beans.

But as a kid, you're like, "It's so boring."

-Well, time for a break now, a commercial break.

-OK.

And one that I hope brings back some really good memories.

Have a little look at this.

Showing a bushy-browed teenager's panic

in the aftermath of a house party,

this classic ad was one of a series of mini-drama adverts

for the Yellow Pages.

Who are you?

-That's Jake Wood from EastEnders, there.

-Oh, really?!

Oh, hello, French polishers?

It's just possible you could save my life.

PHONE RINGS

Mum, just landed?

All quiet.

I'm on my way.

-So, what was it about that advert that you loved so much?

-Well...

-a similar thing happened to me.

-What, you had a party?

Well, not quite.

I did some artwork on the dining room table

and I was cutting something out and I thought,

"Oh, I don't need a mat." And I cut it and then I got a mark.

So I thought, "I'll file it."

-Oh, no!

-And the mark became a dip.

And then my dad banished me to the garden shed.

Forever onwards I had to do artwork in the garden shed,

because I didn't think of Yellow Pages.

Man, if I had the Yellow Pages at the time

I would have given somebody a call.

But, yeah... So I can associate with that feeling of getting

-a scratch on the table.

-Yeah.

-Yep.

So, your next choice is a lady who has been cooking

on our screens since the early '70s.

You have chosen her as your biggest influence.

And here she is destroying a coconut.

Well, now we're going to go on a long journey

all the way from Thailand to Sri Lanka.

And I want to show you a curry recipe that a friend of mine

-brought back from there.

-'Look at the earrings!

-I know...'

..which is a fresh coconut.

'Her earrings are nearly as big as the coconut!'

..not exactly user-friendly.

Champion of back-to-basics cookery,

Delia Smith is so influential

that she created a phenomenon known as the Delia Effect -

a celebrity endorsement that prompts a shopper stampede.

Put the coconut inside the polythene bag.

Then you need a really heavy object,

something like a big hammer or a mallet.

I think we know what's going to happen, don't we?

-I think there's something quite brutal about this.

-Yeah.

And then you put the coconut onto the concrete...

In the past, the Delia Effect

has caused a national cranberry shortage

and seen salted caper sales rise by 350%.

She enjoyed that, didn't she?

Yeah, I think so.

I think what's great about Delia, she always gave us a little tip,

didn't she? A handy hint.

Yeah, she was good at giving tips and it was always very clear.

You know, nothing too complicated in terms of techniques.

And just keep sliding the knife in,

right underneath and then it'll just prise it away, like that.

And nowadays, you say, "Just buy at your supermarket already prepared."

Yeah. But she was a huge influence?

Definitely. I mean, she was, for me...

Delia was the first solo cookery... personality I watched on TV.

And I remember watching a lot of her shows

like Christmas shows and like this one here as a kid

and enjoying them, obviously.

But also being interested in what she was cooking

and discovering new things.

And I always feel she's kind of combined that kind of

educational part and also the delicious part, because the food...

As a kid, it looked really tasty.

Nowadays, filming food on TV has evolved a little bit,

the styling is a little bit different. But I think

back in the '80s, it was pretty...exciting.

-Yeah.

-To see all the different...

Like, there, cooking a Thai curry, I'd never tasted a Thai curry.

So it was interesting to see all these flavours and things she was

exploring and different ingredients.

Cos she has been there forever, hasn't she?

I mean, for decades and decades.

I mean, what has kept her longevity, you know?

Why do you think she's been there for so long?

I think the reason why she's been around

for such a long time is because her recipes work.

And they're meant for the home cook.

You know, obviously now she has...

There's a lot of other TV chefs around.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-And now there's somebody for everyone.

You know, if you like different types of cookery

you can find somebody who you like.

Whereas growing up there were very little.

And very little women TV chefs.

So...

I think when you're growing up as a young girl, a young woman,

it's great to see a woman on TV

doing her own show and doing it really well and...

being intelligent about it as well.

-Yeah, yeah.

-I think it's educational in the way she talks about food,

but it's still tasty.

Delia Smith isn't the only legendary female foodie to grace our TVs.

Way back when it was the culinary delights of Fanny Cradock

who tickled our taste buds. The First Lady of food,

Fanny's shows became more about her flamboyant personality

than her eccentric cooking.

Another force of nature were The Two Fat Ladies, sadly now both deceased.

Clarissa Dickson Wright and Jennifer Paterson became cult figures.

Driving around on a motorbike and sidecar,

they loved to cook lavish meals inspired by local tradition.

And our list of legendary ladies celebrity chefs

simply wouldn't be complete without the lovely Nigella Lawson.

Renowned as a domestic goddess

who's put indulgence back into the kitchen, Nigella is famed for

her provocative presenting style and delicious grub.

But today, of course, I'm all about another fabulous female chef.

Rachel, we've seen the television that has influenced you

but we're going to have a look at your big break. Ms Rachel Khoo.

This is French food the way the Parisians cook and eat it.

C'est tout. That's it.

People always ask me, "Was it really your home?"

I was like, "Yes!"

From her own tiny kitchen in Paris to the capital's

beautiful bistros, Rachel revealed French cooking for the 21st century.

It was this big, the camera was this big,

we all had to squeeze in like this, you know.

-The cameraman...

-I think that's what gave it its appeal.

-Yes.

-People are always talking about that tiny kitchen.

And what you created in that tiny kitchen.

-Yeah.

-It was charming.

Thank you. All right, for the pistou sauce, it's really easy.

'Sometimes, you know, the director said, "OK, Rachel,

'"we need a shot of you stirring the bowl'

"but your head is in the way."

And I'm like, "OK..."

So the cameraman would squeeze in behind me

and he's have the camera over my shoulder

and I would be like mixing like this

and then, like, trying to get that shot.

So, you know, if we had a behind-the-scenes,

it would have been very funny.

-I would have liked to have seen that.

-Yeah, and all the camera kit,

you know, the bags, was popped in the bath.

-No!

-Cos there was no room anywhere else.

-That's lovely.

-Yeah, so, no, it was... It was good fun.

Would you go back to that?

Um...

-No.

-No?

-I went mad by the end of it.

I was banging my head against the chopping board.

All you need now is some sunflower oil.

Traditional pistou is a bit like the very popular Italian pesto,

it just doesn't have pine nuts or Parmesan in it.

And you're going to blend it up.

'I still have that blender at home.'

-It works!

-And it's got tape on it cos it's, like, falling apart.

You can use it like a pesto, but it also goes well with potatoes,

lamb chops.

And because it has no dairy, it's great for vegans.

Mm, good.

It must have been amazing. Did you think it was going to take off?

-Did you have a feeling?

-I mean...

I knew something big was going to happen, because...

just to be on the BBC, it's huge.

Even in France, you know, they know...

"The BBC? C'est le BBC."

So I knew something was definitely going to change.

But, at the same time, because I still lived in Paris

when the show kicked off,

I didn't experience that recognising you in the street

and stuff like that. So my life continued

as...as usual, you know? It was just when I went back to London

or, you know, I hop on the train, go back for some meetings

then I would notice, like, either I had something funny

on my face when I was on the Tube or people

were like, "Oh, I recognise her," or something like that. So, yeah.

-How did it feel getting recognised?

-Um... It's...

I mean, even when it happens now it's always a bit strange.

As long as people are friendly, then it's OK.

-Yeah.

-And I'm happy to say, "Yeah, hi," and have a photo.

-Do you still live in Paris?

-Um... I'm no longer in Paris.

I came back a couple of years ago because BBC Worldwide

offered me to do a show in London.

And that's where we filmed on Columbia Road,

I had a kitchen on Columbia Road.

I was in Paris for eight years.

It was an amazing time

and that apartment was great, but, in real life,

there was mould on the, you know, ceiling.

The windows didn't shut properly.

So it was very, kind of, "charming" in the Parisian way.

So I don't really miss the apartment.

I miss my friends, I miss the Paris life but it's great to be in London

and to film other TV shows.

I really enjoy that and that was a very special moment in my life.

Rachel, what do you watch now?

What do I watch now? So, I love box sets.

Yeah.

And I don't really have a TV.

I have a computer. I didn't even have a TV in my kitchen in Paris,

it was the oven or the TV, and I needed the oven more.

So recently,

Luther was on again,

The Fall. I love all those crime series.

I'm not so much into cookery shows,

cos when I watch cookery shows I'm like, "How did they film that?

-"What camera angle?"

-So it's like a busman's holiday?

Yes. Yeah, yeah.

Rachel, you've been a wonderful guest.

You've brought a ray of sunshine to my sofa.

Oh, thank you!

I want to thank you and I also want to give you the opportunity now

to choose a theme tune for us to play out on.

-Have you thought about this?

-Yes. I have thought about it.

So one of the shows I used to watch as a teenager was, in German,

which is also very bizarre, The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air.

-Ah.

-And I can't rap but I like the tune.

It's always so fun.

-Yeah.

-And it's like...

When you hear it, it's like, "Oh, yeah!"

-Yeah.

-So I thought that would be a good tune for the end.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you!

-Two.

-Oh, two. I forget.

-Don't worry.

-So, my thanks to you, Rachel,

and my thanks to you for watching The TV That Made Me.

We'll see you next time. Bye-bye.

# I'd like to take a minute, just sit right there

# I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel Air

# In west Philadelphia born and raised

# On the playground was where I spent most of my days

# Chillin' out, maxin', relaxin' all cool

# And all shooting some b-ball outside of the school

# When a couple of guys who were up to no good

# Started making trouble in my neighbourhood

# I got in one little fight and my mom got scared

# And said "You're movin' with your auntie and uncle in Bel Air"

# I whistled for a cab and when it came near

# The license plate said 'FRESH' and it had dice in the mirror... #