They were loud, vivacious and gloriously un-PC. Sometimes they seemed to be learning how to cook as they went, barely one step ahead of the viewer. It didn’t matter. If anything, it only made the BBC’s Two Fat Ladies more watchable. And 25 years on – the last of the two dozen episodes pairing Jennifer Paterson and Clarissa Dickson Wright aired on 28 September 1999 – I miss terribly their jaunty style of cooking, glass in hand.
I don’t think I’m alone. Spectacularly and unexpectedly successful in their lifetimes – 70 million worldwide watched their programme over its four-year run, including many in the US – the internet has allowed them to find fresh admirers since their death. One of the best things about YouTube is preserving such classic content long after it’s vanished from mainstream channels. (Though newer generations have sought to justify their fondness for these bastions of the old school by revelling in their now-fashionable #cottagecore aesthetic or even identifying them as early symbols of ‘body positivity’.
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