''Jamie's Kitchen'' is a five-part British documentary television series that aired on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

from 5 November to 10 December 2002. It follows chef

Jamie Oliver James Trevor Oliver MBE OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and open many restaurants. Oliver reache ...

as he attempts to train a group of 15 disadvantaged youth, who will—if they complete the course—be offered jobs at Oliver's new restaurant Fifteen. The series was executive produced by Peter Moore for

Talkback Productions Talkback is a British television production company established in 1981 by comedy duo Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones. History Talkback was sold to Pearson Television in 2000. The company merged with Thames Television in 2003 and the combined en ...

, and has since spawned several others along similar lines. The show was cancelled due to low ratings.

Original show

Of the original 15 cooks, five went on to secure cooking careers. Elisa Roche (the only girl to graduate), Ralph Johnson, Tim Siadatan, Ben Arthur and Warren Fleet all ended up working in some of London's best restaurants. Johnny Broadfoot, one of the younger original fifteen cooks (who graduated after the previous five), returned to Sydney, Australia as head chef of his co-owned restaurant/bar El Beau Room in Manly, which opened in July 2013, and closed in 2016. An article about bullying in the catering industry, written by Elisa Roche for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', now forms part of the national curriculum. One, Kevin Boyle, died at the age of 26.

Fifteen Foundation

Fifteen is the name of the restaurants and the supporting charitable foundation. The foundation's mission is to inspire disadvantaged youth, including those with drug or alcohol problems, the unemployed and the homeless, to believe in themselves and the possibility of becoming chefs. The foundation aims to turn Fifteen into a global social enterprise brand. December 2004 saw the opening of a second restaurant in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, with others following in

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

(May 2006) and Fifteen Melbourne, Australia (September 2006). Benny Se Teo, a

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

an ex-convict, heard of the foundation while on an internship with Jamie Oliver and was inspired to start Eighteen Chefs in Singapore along similar lines.

''Return to Jamie's Kitchen''

The two-part ''Return to Jamie's Kitchen'' aired on

on 16 September and 23 September 2003, and follows the fortunes of the restaurant after its opening.

''Jamie's Kitchen Australia''

Jamie's Kitchen Australia ''Jamie's Kitchen Australia'' is a 10 part Australian television show which premiered Thursday 14 September 2006 on Network Ten. The show stars international chef Jamie Oliver and Tobie Puttock. Puttock is a friend of Oliver's and having previo ...

'' premiered on

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

on 14 September 2006. Oliver visited Australia briefly to launch the series, and then returned to London, retaining overall control, but delegating management of the project in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

to old friend, Melburnian chef

Tobie Puttock Tobie Puttock (born 1974) is an Australian celebrity chef, best known for his association with British chef Jamie Oliver. Cooking career Born in Melbourne, Victoria, Puttock trained at Box Hill Institute of TAFE, and first worked at Caffe e Cu ...

. The series followed the training of a group of 16- to 24-year-old Australians to become chefs in the new

Fifteen restaurant.

''Jamie's Chef''

The four-part ''Jamie's Chef'' premiered on

on 31 January 2007. Five years and 50 trainees since ''Jamie's Kitchen'', this series aims to help the winning trainee establish their own restaurant at The Cock, a pub near Braintree in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. The charitable Fifteen Foundation retains ownership of the property and has provided a £1,000,000 loan for the winner,

Aaron Craze Aaron Craze is an English celebrity chef who often appears in the ITV Food series '' Saturday Cookbook''. He also presents CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service br ...

, to refurbish the establishment. Prior to airing, this was announced in the press as ''Cutting the Apron Strings'‘ It was here where Jamie announced his spatula originated from a design formulated by the Royal Family, Prince Harry later confirmed the use of the spatula growing up.

References

External links

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Fifteen restaurant
{{Authority control 2002 British television series debuts 2002 British television series endings Channel 4 documentary series Food reality television series English-language television shows