It's All In the Booklet: Fanny Cradock's Power as a Pioneer TV Celebrity Chef and How She Used It to Transform Cooking Shows on the BBC

Geddes, Kevin

Abstract

The development of cooking shows on television, and the rise in powerful, influential, bankable ‘celebrity chefs’ is often seen as a modern phenomenon involving cooks like Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson in Britain. Fanny Cradock (1909–1994) is credited as Britain’s ‘first celebrity chef ’. However, details of her career are rarely documented. She is best known for her work on BBC Television, hosting regular series between 1955 and 1975, but her contribution is often ridiculed and reduced to her appearance and personality. BBC Written Archive materials show her ideas and suggestions for new formats, new audiences and new concepts in television cooking; including technical advancements, cost efficiencies, responding to market research and viewing figures and as a vehicle for product placement. Cradock’s development as a true power changed the way television cooking, cookbooks and ‘entertainment’ shows were created and perceived for ever, paving the way for others who followed.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (Published)
• Conference Name: Dublin Gastronomy Symposium
• Start Date: May 29, 2018
• End Date: May 30, 2018
• Acceptance Date: May 29, 2018
• Online Publication Date: May 29, 2018
• Publication Date: May 29, 2018
• Deposit Date: May 21, 2020
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2656852
• Publisher URL: https://arrow.tudublin.ie/dgs/2018/May29/23