# Two Fat Ladies

Two Fat Ladies was a British cooking programme starring Jennifer Paterson and Clarissa Dickson Wright. It originally ran for four series – twenty-four episodes – from 9 October 1996 to 28 September 1999, being produced by Optomen Television for the BBC. Since then, the show has been repeated frequently on the Food Network and Cooking Channel in the US and on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In the UK, the show has been transmitted many times on the satellite channel Good Food.

## Overview

The show centred on Jennifer Paterson and Clarissa Dickson Wright travelling the United Kingdom for most of the episodes, except for one episode in Ireland and a Christmas special in Jamaica, on a Triumph Thunderbird motorcycle driven by Paterson. It sported the registration N88 TFL (the British bingo call for number 88 is "Two Fat Ladies", initialised in the suffix "TFL" of the registration) and had a Watsonian Jubilee GP-700 "doublewide" sidecar where Dickson Wright rode. They travelled to various destinations, such as an army garrison and an all-girls school, where they prepared large meals, often with unusual ingredients.
Paterson's uncle, Anthony Bartlett, was Gentiluomo to the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, and so one episode was videotaped at Westminster Cathedral and another at an Irish convent. While cooking at Westminster Cathedral, Paterson cooked an original dish, Peaches Cardinal Hume.
Optomen Television's synopsis of the programme said, "The Ladies are cooks not chefs – they reject the pretensions and elaborations of haute cuisine and are aggressively unfashionable, delighting in such ingredients as clotted cream, lard and fatty meats."

### Theme song

Paterson and Dickson Wright sang their own theme song written by composer Peter Baikie, and Paterson often burst into song during the show, once introducing apple pan dowdy with a verse from the song "Shoo-Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy" (erroneously attributing the song to The Andrews Sisters). They revelled in cooking at grand locations, such as at Lennoxlove House near Edinburgh.

## Cookbooks

"The Two Fat Ladies" produced four cookbooks which accompanied each of the four television series. In order: Two Fat Ladies: Gastronomic Adventures (with Motorbike and Sidecar), The Two Fat Ladies Ride Again, The Two Fat Ladies: Full Throttle and Two Fat Ladies Obsessions.

## Release

A 5 VHS boxed set was released in the United States in 1997 by New River Media. Each containing three episodes from the first two seasons, except for the fifth volume which contains "A Christmas Feast" for the Wolvesey Boys Choir. The Two Fat Ladies DVD set was released in the United States in July 2008. The Acorn Media UK set includes a 40-minute BBC tribute to Paterson, biographies of the stars and "six yummo recipes" in a booklet. It contains all 24 episodes across four discs. The show had previously been released in Britain as a Region 2 DVD set.

## Episode list
### Series overview

| Series | Start date | End date | Episodes |
| 1 | 9 October 1996 | 13 November 1996 | 6 |
| 2 | 29 September 1997 | 24 December 1997 | 7 |
| 3 | 2 September 1998 | 22 December 1998 | 7 |
| 4 | 7 September 1999 | 28 September 1999 | 4 |

### Series 1 (1996)

| No. Overall | Episode Number | Title | Location | Clarissa's dishes | Jennifer's dishes | Air date |
| 1 | 1 | Fish & Shellfish | The Shark's Fin Hotel Mevagissey, Cornwall | Crab, corn & coriander fritter Gigot of monkfish with rosemary and anchovies | Fish pie Scallops with leeks | 9 October 1996 |
| 2 | 2 | Meat | Westonbirt School Gloucestershire | Beef à la Will Moreland Chicken breasts with walnut aillade | Roast "Hedgehog" (meatloaf) A.N.'s slow shoulder of lamb | 16 October 1996 |
| 3 | 3 | Fruit & Vegetables | Westminster Cathedral London | Bubble and squeak Stuffed artichokes | Tomato summer pudding Beanz meanz Fitz Peaches Cardinal Hume | 23 October 1996 |
| 4 | 4 | Cakes | Hallaton, Leicestershire | Ginger bread Danish apple & prune cake | Galette des Rois aux amandes Chopped walnut & coffee cake | 30 October 1996 |
| 5 | 5 | Game | Lennoxlove House East Lothian | Partridges with cabbage Pheasant and pickled walnut terrine Duntreath roast grouse | Rabbit with anchovies and capers Medallions of venison with blackberries | 6 November 1996 |
| 6 | 6 | Food in the Wild | Hawkhirst Scout Camp Kielder Forest, Northumberland | Muttachar (spiced eggs) Onion soup with Stilton Trout from the Luau | Shooter's sandwich Frittata with tomatoes, onions & basil | 13 November 1996 |

### Series 2 (1997)

| No. Overall | Episode Number | Title | Location | Clarissa's dishes | Jennifer's dishes | Air date |
| 7 | 1 | Cocktail Party | The Brazilian Embassy Mayfair, London | Blini (with sour cream and caviar) Prawns in mackintoshes (Gambas in gabardinas) Brazilian bean fritters (Acarajé) | Portuguese cod cakes (Bolinhos de bacalhau) Devils on horseback | 29 September 1997 |
| 8 | 2 | Lunch | Vintage motorcycle rally Hesket Newmarket, Cumbria | Clam chowder Robert May's salmon | Loin of pork stuffed with cèpes or truffles Chantal's stuffed tomatoes | 6 October 1997 |
| 9 | 3 | Picnic | Male choir in Llandudno | Welsh lamb pie Mitton of pork | Tartine from Provence Crème vichyssoise glacée | 13 October 1997 |
| 10 | 4 | Afternoon Tea | A cricket match Warborough, Oxfordshire | Queen Alexandra's favourite sandwiches Rigó Jancsi's chocolate slices | Gentleman's savoury delights (shortcrust) Fresh fruit tartlets | 20 October 1997 |
| 11 | 5 | Breakfast | Black Sheep Brewery Masham, North Yorkshire | Corn griddle cakes Huevos rancheros | Devilled kidneys Kedgeree Jugged kippers | 27 October 1997 |
| 12 | 6 | Dinner | 1st Battalion, The Royal Gurkha Rifles Aldershot, Queen Elizabeth Barracks, Church Crookham | Turbot with watercress and pickled walnuts Beef with chestnuts, pears and almonds | Coq au vin Stuffed quail with white wine | 3 November 1997 |
| 13 | 7 (Christmas Special) | Christmas | Winchester Cathedral Choir The Pilgrims' School, Winchester, Hampshire | Swedish red cabbage Christmas pudding ice cream bombe | Mousse of the egg Roast goose with pâté and prune stuffing | 24 December 1997 |

### Series 3 (1998)

| No. Overall | Episode Number | Title | Location | Clarissa's dishes | Jennifer's dishes | Air date | Viewers (millions) |
| 14 | 1 | Benedictine Nuns | Kylemore Abbey Connemara, County Galway | Broad beans with dill Tomato tartlets | Lobster and mayonnaise Raspberry and strawberry shortcake | 2 September 1998 | 3.85 |
| 15 | 2 | Pony Club | The Cotswolds, Gloucestershire | Pork with clams Chocolate crème brulée | Welsh rarebit soufflé Pete's Pommy Pommes | 9 September 1998 | 4.31 |
| 16 | 3 | The Cambridge Eight | Boat club Cambridge University | Rabbit Isabel Asturian bean and sausage soup | Peas with lettuce Cheese and honey pie | 16 September 1998 | 4.63 |
| 17 | 4 | Barristers at Lincoln's Inn | Lincoln's Inn, London | Swiss chard with garlic and anchovies Salmon mousse with cucumber sauce | Beef in pastry Strawberry Breasts | 23 September 1998 | 3.36 |
| 18 | 5 | The Air Race | East Fortune Airfield, Scotland | Venison Pastie Chocolate egg snowballs | Roasted salmon with scallops in a mustard butter sauce Red peppers stuffed with aubergine purée | 30 September 1998 | 4.21 |
| 19 | 6 | Lock Keepers | Grindley Brook, Shropshire | Burnett's Woodcock Quercyan apple cake | Soused herrings Hoppin' John | 7 October 1998 | 4.35 |
| 20 | 7 (Christmas Special) | A Caribbean Christmas | Chukka Cove Polo Club Good Hope Country House, Jamaica | Rice and peas Jerked suckling pig | Pumpkin Soup Spiced bun Rum Punch | 22 December 1998 | 3.34 |

### Series 4 (1999)

| No. Overall | Episode Number | Title | Location | Clarissa's dishes | Jennifer's dishes | Air date | Viewers (millions) |
| 21 | 1 | Potatoes Galore | Jersey | Portuguese fish stew Chocolate Pye | Boeuf Stroganoff Crème Pierre le Grand (chicken soup) | 7 September 1999 | 2.27 |
| 22 | 2 | On Safari | Knowsley Safari Park Lancashire | Devilled Poussin Chillis stuffed with goat cheese, and tomato salsa | Lamb in filo pastry Apple pandowdy | 14 September 1999 | 2.87 |
| 23 | 3 | Timber! | Ardnamurchan peninsula | Watercress mousse Trout baked in sea salt with beurre blanc | Poule au pot Grilled peaches and cream | 21 September 1999 | 3.05 |
| 24 | 4 (Series finale) | A Day at the Races | Floors Castle, Kelso St. Abbs, Northumberland | Green beans with Roman mustard Barmbrack with rhubarb | Hot buttered crab Stuffed baked codfish with a tomato sauce | 28 September 1999 | 3.37 |
* Note: Series 4 was halted after the death of Jennifer Paterson shortly after completion of its fourth episode.