Where do you get a name like Heston Blumenthal from? It’s exotic beyond words. If someone with a name like that didn’t end up with their own TV show, then there would be no justice in the world. Thankfully, this chap does have his own show called Heston Blumenthal: In Search of Perfection (BBC2, 8.30pm, Thursdays).

With a spate of cookery progs about, like Ramsay and Nigella, what does Blumenthal do differently? Sadly, he takes the fun out of food by treating the whole thing like an Open University science course… but that’s not to say this programme is rubbish… hell no…

Heston Blumenthal (sorry, I won’t tire of saying that… try it… it’s fun) approaches food with a scientists head on. Dissecting the process of, in the case of last night’s show, cooking and roasting a chicken. Now, aside from the dodgy diagrams showing (deep breath) arrows going in and out of a diagram of a close up of a fibre in the flesh of a chicken to show how it reacts to heat and radiation… (gasp)… Heston does have a bit of fun. The moment he quipped "Erm, I think this has got a bit too hot . . ." when he set fire to a whole chicken in a vat of burning fat in the car park of his restaurant… you knew this was a man who didn’t take himself too seriously! The flames got higher as he giggled at the thought of how crispy the skin would be when pulled out of the inferno.

The show as a whole provides decent enough viewing and most importantly, provides good little tips to make the perfect roast spud or whatever. However, one thing Heston Blumenthal forgets is that most of us don’t have the time to start preparing food at 6am to make it just so in time for lunch. Still though, he creates ideal food for an ideal world, and all TV chefs are guilty of that. One thing I will say about the show is the music. It would seem that the producers have only paid for the rights of one tune (which is catchier than crack) which segues in and out at every opportunity, leaving you feeling slightly ill be the close of the programme. Buy Heston Blumenthal more records! [Mof Gimmers]