About this season
Restaurant critic Giles Coren and writer and comedian Sue Perkins experience the food culture of years gone by.
Episodes (6)
1. The Eighties
Aired 15 June 2009 • 60 min
In this programme they go back to the 1980s, the years of their adolescence. Living in a converted loft on the Thames, they sample the high life of a couple of yuppies. To a soundtrack of 80s classics including the Pet Shop Boys, Duran Duran, ABC and Billy Bragg, they power-lunch their way through the decade, knocking back champagne while talking loudly into their oversized mobile phones.
2. Medieval
Aired 22 June 2009 • 60 min
In this programme, they go back to medieval England to live the life of a Lord and Lady in their country manor. Starting life in 1066, Giles takes on the guise of a Norman conqueror, complete with broadsword and chainmail. Sue wears pointy hats and is a damsel in deep distress, as Giles has been given her manor house and all the lands around it. He is also on a mission to woo her.
3. The French Revolution
Aired 6 July 2009 • 60 min
Giles and Sue go for a journey back to Revolutionary France in the 1780s. Donning wigs and corsets, Giles and Sue find out what King Louis XVI ate, why Marie Antoinette was so hated, and how the Revolution was instrumental in creating the first restaurant and first restaurant critic.
4. The Twenties
Aired 13 July 2009 • 60 min
This time, Giles and Sue discover the culinary delights of the bright young things in the 1920s. Chef for the week is food writer Allegra McEvedy, providing aspic-inspired cookery. 'It' girl Sue gets a real bob and Giles dresses in the dandyish fashions of the period. During their 1920s week, they go from one social engagement to another: cocktails at The Ritz, the charleston at Cafe de Paris and motor racing at Brooklands.
5. The Fifties
Aired 20 July 2009 • 60 min
Giles and Sue go back to the 1950s, an era started on rations and ended by Prime Minister Harold MacMillan remarking that 'we'd never had it so good'.
6. Ancient Rome
Aired 27 July 2009 • 60 min
This time they travel back to the early days of the Roman Empire. Living in a splendid villa, Senator Giles dons a toga while Vestal Virgin Sue dresses in tunics and keeps the fires of Rome burning.