![Tom Kerridge visits food producers around the country and makes recipes (using sponsored M&S ingredients) in his new series](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/tv/2024/07/04/TELEMMGLPICT000382714461_17201039531320_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqlSEKDJejZzMTBL7s8E_50ddl1ssZ-r_JiE5W0vyvPec.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Tom Kerridge Cooks Britain, ITV1, review: a stale helping of product placement
More of a glossy Marks & Spencer advert than useful cookery show, the chef’s new series signals a depressing switch to ad-funded content
![Tom Kerridge visits food producers around the country and makes recipes (using sponsored M&S ingredients) in his new series](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/tv/2024/07/04/TELEMMGLPICT000382714461_17201039531320_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqlSEKDJejZzMTBL7s8E_50ddl1ssZ-r_JiE5W0vyvPec.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Do you enjoy M&S adverts? Would you like to watch one that lasts half an hour? Then here is Tom Kerridge Cooks Britain (ITV1), which follows Jamie Oliver’s air-fryer series (sponsored by Tefal) by force-feeding us some product placement. I don’t just mean the sponsorship promos at the beginning and end of the episodes and ad breaks, in which Kerridge says: “M&S Food sponsors Tom Kerridge Cooks Britain, says Tom Kerridge as he cooks M&S food in Britain.”
The show itself consists of the famous chef visiting food producers around the country. Guess who they supply? Well, quite a few retailers, actually, but only one gets a mention. Look at how these happy workers harvest beetroot in the warm glow of the East Anglian sun. They love their job. Of course they do – this is not just any minimum wage job for migrant workers, this is the M&S version!
How baffling that British workers don’t want to do this, because as portrayed here it looks close to nirvana. Kerridge rewards them with plates of beetroot and bulgur wheat salad. They smile politely. Possibly, beetroot is the last thing they want to eat after days spent picking and sorting the stuff, but never mind that.
Next, he’s off to an orchard in Kent (“M&S Pink Lady apples sponsor Tom Kerridge Cooks Britain, Tom Kerridge says as he cooks M&S Pink Lady apples in Britain”). He joins in by picking some pears, and it looks like marvellous fun. I will definitely enjoy my M&S pears more now, knowing what a good time everyone had while harvesting them.
Finally, some cookery tips, which is surely why people tuned in to this programme in the first place. Kerridge makes a fruit crumble, and offers some genuinely useful advice which he describes as “a bit cheffy, but it works so well”. First, add chopped hazelnuts to your crumble mix. Second, cook the crumble in two ways: half on top of the fruit, and another half spread out by itself on a baking tray. You sprinkle the second lot over the top once your crumble is out of the oven, ensuring an extra, crunchy layer.
Poke around the ITV website and you’ll see that this series is delivered by a division of the broadcaster called BE Studio, “a full service creative studio producing ad-funded entertainment [which] helps brands build emotional connections with ITV’s audience”. I’d rather ITV just served up a normal cooking show, thanks. But maybe this is the future?