Jamie Oliver

Few people would dream of casting mild-mannered QI dunce Alan Davies in the role of a fiery gastronomic hellhound à la Gordon Ramsay or Marco Pierre White. But it is one of the many delights and revelations of this enjoyable new comedy that Davies so excellently fleshes out the role of Roland White, a fictional, once-pyrotechnic chef now fizzling out his days at a country house hotel. He's accompanied by his loyal and long-suffering sous chef, Bib (nicely played by Darren Boyd), flame-haired (and tongued) restaurant manager Caroline (Katherine Parkinson of The IT Crowd), sinister wannabe genius Skoose (Stephen Wightp) and clueless hotel owner Celia (Maggie Steed). It's co-written by Peep Show's Matt King, and much of the comedy is based on his pre-fame experiences of working in restaurant kitchens. Enhancing the ring of truth, the cast spent days training at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant in London. Despite the infernal kitchen setting, this is mostly gentle character-based comedy, but with an edge of sharpened steel that keeps the laughs coming all the time. Roland gets a lot of the best lines, though in the great British comic tradition he also manages to be the butt of most of them - as in tonight's opener, in which he records his never-to-be-commissioned memoirs. A very welcome addition to Tuesday nights.

Gerald O'Donovan, The Telegraph, 28th September 2010

Alan Davies - he's the curly-haired Arsenal fan who used to be a stand-up - stars in this new comedy drama about once-famous chef Roland White, who long-ago lost his pizzazz and with it his Michelin stars. Now's he's struggling to keep a country-house hotel afloat in the company of his long-suffering sous chef, Bib (Darren Boyd).

Their task isn't made easier by dozy waitress Kiki (Isy Suttie), ambitious apprentice chef Skoose (Stephen Wight) and sarcastic restaurant manager Caroline (Katherine Parkinson). There's a great moment in tonight's opening episode which involves Kiki telling Skoose what happened when she was caught short and had to go to the toilet behind a gravestone in the churchyard. "I thought I saw a ghost, but it was just wee steam." She also asks Bib for an eggless omlette, and is handed an empty plate sprinkled with parsley.

The cast trained in Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant, so at least the chopping and plating-up look fairly authentic. So does the way the programme is filmed, using fast editing and handheld cameras to give a real idea of what life in a busy kitchen is actually like.

Writers Matt King and Oliver Lansley are said to have modelled the whole thing on the US hit Entourage, which isn't a bad template for a comedy drama. Looking down the cast list, it might be safer to say Peep Show is the inspiration: Suttie also plays the wonderful Dobby in the long-running Channel 4 comedy, while writer King (who also appears in Whites as wheeler-dealer Melvin) is better known as Super Hans.

Barry Didcock, The Herald, 28th September 2010

Despite being a fully-fledged member of the Grumpies' fan club I bet narrator Geoffrey Palmer and his gang of grouchy celebs are the Christmas guests from hell.

Ronni Ancona will moan that your Jamie Oliver-inspired turkey and cranberry sauce is "basically chicken with jam", Al Murray will tell you to "go away" when you talk to him about the joy of giving (he actually uses stronger language but I'm starting my New Year's resolution a few days early) and Penny Smith will moan that it's all "sentimental claptrap". Donna McPhail will terrify your dog by declaring Christmas is "worse than a puppy because you can't put it in a sack and drown it." And Ozzy Osbourne will consider getting back on his quad bike to avoid the whole thing for a second time. It's "just b******s," he says. Oh damn, there goes my resolution already.

Jane Simon, The Mirror, 23rd December 2009