Ready Meals: What They Really Mean for You, review: flavourless look at the British food industry
Gregg Wallace may have consciously uncoupled with the British Broadcasting Corporation, but his spirit is alive and well within the corridors of W1A. Ready Meals: What They Really Mean for You (BBC One) was ostensibly a cheap and cheerful magazine show about the British food industry's attempts to reach net zero by 2050. If that particular ready meal sounds a bit dry, the BBC agreed. Pouring on the Inside the Factory gravy was its Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt, who eagerly stepped into Wallace's hairnet.
'Wow!' he said at some fairly large, stainless steel machines. 'It is massive!' he hollered at a Tesco distribution centre in Avonmouth. 'Magical!' he trilled at a production line. 'Liam is going to unleash some of his state-of-the-art food processing machines,' he drooled at a man called Liam, who was pressing a button. 'It looks like a huge insect, doesn't it?' he quipped at a combine harvester. If Wallace was watching at home, he could only have marvelled at the craft.
Dull as it undoubtedly was, the programme had a serious point to make, but seemed ambivalent about what exactly it was. Rowlatt did a good job of holding obfuscating industry spokespeople to account – Are the supermarkets all talk? Do farmers just need to accept we must eat less meat? – but this sort of tech-business documentary always falls into the same trap.
In highlighting some of the innovations – synthetic meat made from a few pig cells or a palm oil alternative that could save countless hectares of rainforest – the show left you with an artificial sense that everyone was okay. How innovative we humans are! No need to change course too much – the boffins are onto it.
It all felt a little like an Open University video that would have its students' eyelids sagging. 'I am a woman who loves a robot,' said scientist Fran Scott, which briefly threatened a far more exciting programme. Alas, she was talking about a robotic arm that could make soup. Tesco and Multivac got some good free publicity out of it, but this was a ready meal short of some seasoning.
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Daily Record
2 hours ago
- Daily Record
Original EastEnders cast now from huge Hollywood role to tragically early death
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Dr Legg (Leonard Fenton) One of Albert Square's quietest figures, Dr Legg was a comforting presence through the show's early years. Though he left full-time in 1997, he returned regularly for weddings, funerals, and major moments. His final appearance in 2019, when the character died of pancreatic cancer, gave long-time fans a moving farewell. Leonard Fenton died in 2022, aged 95. Mary Smith (Linda Davidson) Known as 'Mary the Punk,' she was one of the Square's most striking residents: a single mum with bright hair, attitude, and a complicated life. Mary's struggles with parenting and sex work pushed boundaries at the time, but her exit in 1988 came quietly. Linda Davidson left acting in the '90s to work behind the scenes at the BBC and later held executive roles at major digital companies, including the Jamie Oliver Group. Tony Carpenter (Oscar James) As one of the first Black characters on EastEnders, Tony Carpenter made TV history. 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Daily Mirror
5 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
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Joss forms a bond with main character Nancy, played by Bessie Carter, particularly in scenes that reflect the wider political chaos of the time. One scene in Buckinghamshire stands out to Will in particular. 'They're talking about the far-right,' he remembers, 'And we were filming while riots were actually happening around the country last summer. It was a reminder: 'These things don't happen in isolation. There's a culture behind it. History is being repeated.'' READ MORE: NARS' new summer collection includes cream eyeshadow that 'doesn't budge' on oily eyelids Actress Bessie Carter made her name as the scheming Prudence Featherington in Bridgerton. Now, she's taking centre stage in Outrageous, a drama with bite, built on truth, and unafraid to rattle the bones of British history. Adapted from Mary S. Lovell's novel The Mitford Girls, the six-part series set in the 1930s sees Bessie play Nancy Mitford - the eldest of six aristocratic siblings who each challenged, defied or catastrophically clashed with the values of their time. 'I knew a weird amount about them already,' Bessie says, 'I've been strangely connected to Nancy for ages.' That connection turns out to be more than just artistic. Bessie, who is the daughter of actors Jim Carter and Imedla Staunton, voiced the audiobook of Nancy's The Pursuit of Love and later discovered they shared some eerie life overlaps. 'I found out I went to the same school as her for the same amount of time, only three years. During the war she worked at St Mary's Hospital, which is where I was born,' Bessie says. 'She lived in Maida Vale, 10 minutes from where I used to live. It's a series of really odd coincidences.' That synchronicity only deepened Bessie's instinct for Nancy. 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'Diana and Nancy are best friends to begin with, but the story follows the breakdown of their relationship,' Joanna says, 'You realise how problematic fascism is through Nancy's eyes because you see what it does to Diana. Politics cause the fracture between them. Neither can see it from the other's perspective.' To make matters worse, Diana's relationship with Oswald is nothing short of hectic. 'He's had numerous affairs, but she stood by him,' Joanna says. 'When she says, 'He's the one I'm going to spend the rest of my life with,' she makes that happen.' Joanna adds: 'The Mitfords are known for their sense of humour but Diana starts losing that. She can't poke fun at herself anymore. She becomes a bit uptight and keeps her emotions very private.' Yet she remains outspoken about her views - which became increasingly difficult for Joanna to portray on-screen. 'I had a line the other day and was like, 'This is just horrible to say and to think,'' Joanna recalls. 'The biggest acting demand is to say that with conviction and to not feel physically revolted by it.' To ground her own performance, Bessie leaned on the sisters' extensive real-life correspondence. 'One book I found really useful was The Mitford: Letters Between Six Sisters. They wrote over 17,000 letters between them,' Bessie says, 'This book obviously doesn't contain nearly as many as that, but it's already as thick as a brick.' Outrageous doesn't shy away from the more uncomfortable chapters. Shannon Watson plays Unity Mitford, infamous for her obsession with Adolf Hitler and her open antisemitism. Zoe Brough also joins the cast as Jessica Mitford, who became a staunch communist. The ideological gulf between the sisters mirrors the chaos of the era. 'We see the pressure these political divides put on Nancy,' says Bessie. 'Do you stay true to your family because they are blood…or do you stay true to yourself and your beliefs? I found all that so interesting.' Outrageous airs on U and U&Drama from Thursday, June 19th.
