James Martin: It would be ‘really weird’ to watch myself on Saturday Morning

The popular TV chef talks to Lauren Taylor about the ITV show, not rehearsing, and meeting famous guests.

Chef James Martin talks about the buzz of cooking live on TV and creating recipes that anyone can whip up at home (Dan Jones/PA)

James Martin may have been on TV since the mid-Nineties, but that doesn’t mean he wants to see it back.

“I’ve never watched myself in 34 years of doing it. I can’t watch it, I just can’t – it’s really weird,” says the 53-year-old.

The chef made his name on the likes of Ready Steady Cook and The Big Breakfast, before taking over hosting BBC One’s Saturday Kitchen in 2006 – filmed live – and moving to ITV’s James Martin’s Saturday Morning in 2017.

“I was always taught, if you’re going to watch yourself, you’ll change. I don’t really want to do that.”

Instead, the feedback tends to come from his mum. “Usually my mum phones me up and says, ‘That shirt looks s*** – you can’t wear that again’. That’s usually the comment I get on Saturday Morning – ‘What the bloody hell are you wearing that shirt for?’ That’ll be the one, after all these years.

Or, “‘What were you doing the night before? Your hair looks a bloody state. You need to get it cut’.

“It keeps you very grounded,” he adds, with a laugh.

(Dan Jones/PA)

The pre-recorded Saturday Morning, now in its ninth year, sees Martin welcome celebrated chefs and celebrities into his home and outdoor kitchen. He rustles up all manner of dishes for his guests to try – while other top chefs share some of theirs too – and viewers send in their culinary questions.

“I didn’t think I’d be doing [Saturday Morning telly] for 20 years – put it that way. Leaving the BBC after 10 years was a big decision, giving up that show, but it was the right time for me,” says the chef, from Malton, North Yorkshire.

“Certainly filming at the house has a different vibe to it, a more relaxed vibe – a different chapter.”

To mark the best part of a decade of his current show’s success, Martin’s latest cookbook, James Martin’s Saturday Morning, is a collection of recipes that he’s cooked for viewers.

What those at home might not know is that each dish is whipped up for the very first time by Martin on TV.

“That’s what surprises a lot of people,” he shares, “We don’t do any rehearsal or any practice.” The ingredients are written down and laid out in front of him, and as Martin creates a dish, while someone sits behind the camera writing down the step-by-step recipe.

“It’s not like any other normal cookery shows [in which] you get given a recipe and you follow it – we don’t do any of that. In terms of my stuff, what you see on camera is the first time I’ve cooked it.

“It’s like an upscale Ready, Steady, Cook, but it’s 30 or 40 years of cooking in the business.”

It certainly adds to to the authentic feel of the show – and leads to more natural interactions with the famous guests too. “I think [not rehearsing] is important in terms of the conversations that you have. It’s always the best conversations when you go live, or you shoot it as ‘live’. Rather than rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, where it gets watered down.”

Isn’t that a bit nerve-racking? “I don’t ever get nervous, in terms of the food,” Martin says. ” I probably get more nervous for the guests, really.

“Over the years, we’ve had some of the greatest chefs in the world on. When the best chefs in the world come to the UK, they kind of look to our show, which is an honour and a privilege.

“I’ve got nervous a few times. When you’re interviewing the late, great Sir Michael Parkinson – you’ve got to be on your A game.”

Author Jackie Collins sitting in his home kitchen was another “pinch-me moment” for Martin, before her death in 2015.

“You kind of look at them and go, ‘I can’t believe you’re here, in my house’. And you’re cooking for them.”

Some of the world-class chefs who’ve appeared on the show have shared recipes for the new book too; think Nathan Outlaw’s fish stew, Asma Khan’s meatball curry, and Paul Rankin’s pear crumble.

“The chefs are there to showcase their business and their restaurants and their skill. I try and do stuff that’s accessible, that people can do at home. So if I can make it in 10 minutes, then hopefully I’ll inspire people to do [it].”

(Dan Jones/PA)

So the vast majority of the book’s recipes are Martin’s on-screen creations – and there were a lot to choose from.

“I’m doing probably six, seven recipes a show,” he notes, “There’s probably 5,000 recipes over the years I’ve been doing it.”

But you’ll find brunches (breakfast waffles with all the trimmings, or lemon and elderflower pancakes) with midweek meals (fish and chips with brown crab mayonnaise) and comfort food (like the surf and turf burger) alongside dishes for easy entertaining (pork chops with café de Paris butter).

Martin’s days of filming don’t involve eating the usual meals at the usual times though. “I’ve usually got a glass of wine in my hands and a chicken chasseur [first thing]; by quarter past 10 I’m usually on the barbecue with another glass of wine and I’m cooking something savoury. By brunch I’ve usually had a steak and chips, or something classically French,” he laughs. “It’s really odd.”

Martin wants to inspire people to get in the kitchen, regardless of ability, so his recipes are all about accessibility. “Most of the dishes we’ve done over the years have been made out of stuff you can buy off the supermarket shelf. There’s a supermarket sponge that I buy for 60p and you can turn it into a cake that [looks like it’s worth] £80 in 10 minutes with a little bit of imagination, cream and sugar.

“People seem to like that kind of stuff.”

(Quadrille/PA)

James Martin’s Saturday Morning cookbook by James Martin is published in hardback by Quadrille, priced £25. Photography by Dan Jones. Available November 6.