English chef Graham Kerr became one of television’s most popular cooking instructors of the late ’60s.
He was a handsome, athletic young man with an ebullient personality, and an anti-traditional approach to cookery and to cooking for television.
He worked very rapidly, with continual, sometimes mildly racy, chatter. (He was sort of the Frankie Howerd of cooking shows.)
He seemed to slap the dishes together with abandon, using very approximate measurements – giving instructions to “slosh” some liquid into the dish and sometimes appearing not to know exactly what he was doing.
He also always had a glass of wine by his side, from which he sipped as he worked.
Sometimes the dishes came out perfectly, and sometimes not so much . . .
Nevertheless, he always invited a member of the appreciative studio audience to join him in a candlelit dinner to taste the final result.
The 25-minute show was produced by Kerr’s wife, Treena, at CJOH-TV in Ottawa, Canada.
Kerr honed his cooking with comedy skills while working as chief catering adviser for the Royal New Zealand Air Force in the late 1950s. This led to a hit series in New Zealand and Australia, followed by this very popular series syndicated in America, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and other countries.
The series came to an abrupt end when Kerr struggled to recover from a near-fatal car accident in April 1971.
He returned in the mid-1970s, after a few years’ hiatus, with another syndicated cooking show, called Take Kerr.
Because Kerr and his producer wife had apparently found religion and sworn off alcoholic beverages and rich food, the wine glass was no longer featured, and he prepared mainly low-fat, low-cholesterol dishes.
Although the new show attracted a loyal following, it certainly had fewer viewers than his more outrageous original series.
You May Also Like
Murder Most English 1 9 7 7 (UK) 7 x 50 minute episodes The quiet and charming (fictitious) Lincolnshire countryside…
Little and Large 1 9 7 8 - 1 9 9 1 (UK) 78 x 60 minute episodes After…
He worked very rapidly, with continual, sometimes mildly racy, chatter. (He was sort of the Frankie Howerd of cooking shows.)
Kerr honed his cooking with comedy skills while working as chief catering adviser for the Royal New Zealand Air Force in the late 1950s. This led to a hit series in New Zealand and Australia, followed by this very popular series syndicated in America, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and other countries.
