''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 th ...

and

Clarissa Dickson Wright Clarissa Theresa Philomena Aileen Mary Josephine Agnes Elsie Trilby Louise Esmerelda Dickson Wright (24 June 1947 – 15 March 2014) was an English celebrity cook, television personality, writer, businesswoman, and former barrister. She was be ...

. It originally ran for four series and twenty-four episodes, from 9 October 1996 to 28 September 1999, being produced by

Optomen Television Optomen is an Independence, independent television production company, with Optomen Television Ltd. for the United Kingdom and Optomen Productions Inc. (launched in 2002) for the United States. Broadcasting United Kingdom and the United States ...

for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

. 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 joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ...

and

Cooking Channel Cooking Channel is an American basic cable channel owned by Food Network, a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (69%) and Nexstar Media Group (31%). The channel is a spin-off of Food Network, broadcasting p ...

in the US and on the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

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

Good Food Good Food was a cookery channel broadcasting in the United Kingdom and Ireland, latterly as part of the Discovery, Inc. network of channels. The channel originally launched on 5 November 2001 and relaunched in its final format on 22 June 2009. ...

Programme

The show centred on

and

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 in 1949 and produced in many forms until 1966. The name was used three more times for new and distinct Triumph models. Original Triumph: 6T Thunderbird To capture ...

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, or bicycle, making the whole a three-wheeled vehicle. A motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a ''combination'', an ''outfit'', a ''rig'' or a ''hack''. ...

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 may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

Archbishop of Westminster The Archbishop of Westminster heads the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster, in England. The incumbent is the metropolitan of the Province of Westminster, chief metropolitan of England and Wales and, as a matter of custom, is elected presid ...

, and so one episode was videotaped at

Westminster Cathedral Westminster Cathedral is the mother church of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. It is the largest Catholic church in the UK and the seat of the Archbishop of Westminster. The site on which the cathedral stands in the City of ...

and another at an Irish convent. While cooking at Westminster Cathedral, Paterson cooked an original dish, ''Peaches Cardinal Hume''. In the same episode, Dickson Wright demonstrated a

bubble and squeak Bubble and squeak is a British dish made from cooked potatoes and cabbage, mixed together and fried. The food writer Howard Hillman classes it as one of the "great peasant dishes of the world".Hillman, pp. 62–63 The dish has been known si ...

recipe which used two ounces of lard, which she insisted is the only fat besides beef dripping that could ever get hot enough to produce the recipe as it should be produced. Similarly, her recipe for buttered

spatchcock Butterflying is a way of preparing meat, fish, or poultry for cooking by cutting it almost in two, but leaving the two parts connected; it is then often boned and flattened. Spatchcocking is a specific method for butterflying poultry that involv ...

saw chickens covered with a thick layer of butter, bread and more butter on top of the bread. Recipes such as this led to criticism by some who considered them to be a bad influence on the British diet. Optomen Television had this to say, as if in reply to their critics: "The Ladies are cooks not chefs – they reject the pretensions and elaborations of

haute cuisine ''Haute cuisine'' (; ) or ''grande cuisine'' is the cuisine of "high-level" establishments, gourmet restaurants, and luxury hotels. ''Haute cuisine'' is characterized by the meticulous preparation and careful presentation of food at a high pri ...

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 Pete 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 music, swing and boogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters: contralto LaVerne Sophia Andrews (July 6, 1911 – May 8, 1967), soprano Maxene Anglyn Andre ...

). They revelled in cooking at grand locations, such as at

Lennoxlove House Lennoxlove House is a historic house set in woodlands half a mile south of Haddington in East Lothian, Scotland. The house comprises a 15th-century tower, originally known as Lethington Castle, and has been extended several times, principally in ...

near Edinburgh.

Deaths

Paterson died of lung cancer on 10 August 1999, aged 71, one month after diagnosis. The day before she died, she asked Dickson Wright to bring her a tin of caviar but when Dickson Wright arrived at the hospital, Paterson had already died. Dickson Wright said that after Paterson's funeral, she ate the caviar as a tribute to her friend. Dickson Wright died in the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on 15 March 2014 from pneumonia induced by an undisclosed illness. She was 66.

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''.

DVD release

''The Two Fat Ladies'' DVD set was released in the United States in July 2008. The

Acorn Media UK RLJE International Ltd, d/b/a Acorn DVD, a British company that publishes and distributes DVDs, as well as selling home-video products and streaming videos with a particular focus on British television. History Launched in 1997, Acorn Media U. ...

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.

Series overview

*Series 1: 9 October 1996 to 13 November 1996 (6 episodes) *Series 2: 29 September 1997 to 24 December 1997 (7 episodes) *Series 3: 2 September 1998 to 22 December 1998 (7 episodes) *Series 4: 7 September 1999 to 28 September 1999 (4 episodes)

Episode list

Series 1 (1996)

Series 2 (1997)

Series 3 (1998)

Series 4 (1999)

* Production of Series 4 was cut short by the death of Jennifer Paterson shortly after completion of the fourth and final episode of Series 4.

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 Television shows Entertainer duos British cooking television shows Motorcycle television series Television series by All3Media Australian Broadcasting Corporation original programming