Michael Winner's Dining Stars
ITV1 London, Friday 26 February 9:00pm - 10:00pm
Fans of Winner's newspaper column will enjoy seeing him in action here. For this series he's eating in private houses, hoping to find home-cooked food that rivals the top restaurants he's used to. If he does, he'll dish out "prestigious" Perspex trophies. It's strange TV - in culinary terms, a wobbling, overdecorated trifle with an aftertaste of sour grapes. But Winner has such a monstrous ego, he's riveting to watch: like a giant toddler he storms around screaming at his assistants (his PA and make-up woman trail everywhere after him) or collaring bemused passers-by. To add a dash of glamour, we see glimpses of Winner's "46-room west London mansion" (all pink swags and swirly carpet) and see him whisked to the chefs' homes by helicopter and Rolls-Royce. There's a sense of the great man descending from on high to bestow wisdom on the little people, so it's disappointing when he comes across mostly as peevish, fussy and a bit cruel. But like some gastronomic disaster, it's all but impossible to take your eyes off.
[b]VIDEO Plus+: 5959
Subtitled, Widescreen, Audio-described
Directed by: Nic Gutteridge
Radiotimes
