''Two Fat Ladies'' was a British cooking programme starring

Jennifer Paterson Jennifer Mary Paterson (3 April 1928 – 10 August 1999) was a British celebrity cook, author, actress and television personality who appeared on the television programme '' Two Fat Ladies'' (1996–1999) with Clarissa Dickson Wright. Prior to ...

and Clarissa Dickson Wright. It originally ran for four series – twenty-four episodes – from 9 October 1996 to 28 September 1999, being produced by Optomen Television for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. Since then, the show has been repeated frequently on the

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, who manages and operates it as a division of the Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks Group. The channel airs both televi ...

and

Cooking Channel Cooking Channel is an American basic cable channel owned by and spin-off of Food Network. Both are owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (69%) and Nexstar Media ...

in the US and on the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is Australia’s principal public service broadcaster. It is funded primarily by grants from the federal government and is administered by a government-appointed board of directors. The ABC is ...

. In the UK, the show has been transmitted many times on the satellite channel Good Food.

Overview

The show centred on

and Clarissa Dickson Wright travelling the United Kingdom for most of the episodes, except for one episode in Ireland and a Christmas special in Jamaica, on a

Triumph Thunderbird The Triumph Thunderbird is a British motorcycle that was introduced by Triumph Engineering, Triumph back in 1949 and produced in many forms until 1966. The name was used three more times for new and distinct Triumph models. Original Triumph: 6 ...

motorcycle driven by Paterson. It sported the registration N88 TFL (the British bingo call for number 88 is "Two Fat Ladies", initialised in the suffix "TFL" of the registration) and had a Watsonian Jubilee GP-700 "doublewide"

sidecar A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, Scooter (motorcycle), scooter, or bicycle, making the whole a three-wheeled vehicle. The combination of a motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a ''rig'', ''outfit' ...

where Dickson Wright rode. They travelled to various destinations, such as an army garrison and an all-girls school, where they prepared large meals, often with unusual ingredients. Paterson's uncle, Anthony Bartlett, was Gentiluomo to the

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

Archbishop of Westminster, and so one episode was videotaped at

Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral, officially the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Most Precious Blood, is the largest Catholic Church in England and Wales, Roman Catholic church in England and Wales. The shrine is dedicated to the Blood of Jesus Ch ...

and another at an Irish convent. While cooking at Westminster Cathedral, Paterson cooked an original dish, ''Peaches Cardinal Hume''. Optomen Television's synopsis of the programme said, "The Ladies are cooks not chefs – they reject the pretensions and elaborations of

haute cuisine ''Haute cuisine'' (; ) or ''grande cuisine'' is a style of cooking characterised by meticulous preparation, elaborate presentation, and the use of high quality ingredients. Typically prepared by highly skilled gourmet chefs, haute cuisine dish ...

and are aggressively unfashionable, delighting in such ingredients as clotted cream, lard and fatty meats."

Theme song

Paterson and Dickson Wright sang their own theme song written by composer Peter Baikie, and Paterson often burst into song during the show, once introducing apple pan dowdy with a verse from the song " Shoo-Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy" (erroneously attributing the song to

The Andrews Sisters The Andrews Sisters were an American close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters: contralto LaVerne Sophia Andrews (1911–1967), soprano Maxene Anglyn Andrews (1916–1995), and mezzo ...

). They revelled in cooking at grand locations, such as at Lennoxlove House near Edinburgh.

Cookbooks

"The Two Fat Ladies" produced four cookbooks which accompanied each of the four television series. In order: ''Two Fat Ladies: Gastronomic Adventures (with Motorbike and Sidecar)'', ''The Two Fat Ladies Ride Again'', ''The Two Fat Ladies: Full Throttle'' and ''Two Fat Ladies Obsessions''.

Release

A 5 VHS boxed set was released in the United States in 1997 by New River Media. Each containing three episodes from the first two seasons, except for the fifth volume which contains "A Christmas Feast" for the Wolvesey Boys Choir. ''The Two Fat Ladies'' DVD set was released in the United States in July 2008. The Acorn Media UK set includes a 40-minute BBC tribute to Paterson, biographies of the stars and "six yummo recipes" in a booklet. It contains all 24 episodes across four discs. The show had previously been released in Britain as a Region 2 DVD set.

Episode list

Series overview

Series 1 (1996)

Series 2 (1997)

Series 3 (1998)

Series 4 (1999)

*Note: Series 4 was halted after the death of Jennifer Paterson shortly after completion of its fourth episode.

References

External links

*
Two Fat Ladies
at

{{Subject bar , portal1=BBC, commons=y 1996 British television series debuts 1999 British television series endings 1990s British cooking television series Food Network original programming BBC Two original programming Entertainer duos British cooking television shows Motorcycle television series Television series by All3Media Television series by Optomen Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming