Series of Heroes, The Fixer and My Name is Earl may come and go… and Attenborough may not be on our screens half as much as we like… but one brilliant TV constant for the past couple of years has been making me start every weekend with a stupidly big grin on my face. That’d be the fault of The Saturday Kitchen.

Like the weekend kids TV of yore, if didn’t really matter what time the show started. It just appears as you do. However, while I’m scratching my bag and stumbling around the kitchen trying to make head-or-tail of the kettle, The Saturday Kitchen is bright eyed, laid-back, witty and making food so good… as so easy to make… that your entire insides begin to digest themselves with ravenous hunger.

Of course, like most foodie shows, the food is often the star. However, unlike most other food programmes, the people involved aren’t irritating in the least. If most lifestyle programmes have a point to make, then The Saturday Kitchen merely wants to give you a hand. It doesn’t want to transform your life, just say ‘alright mate, do you want me to show you how I made that soup you liked last time you came ’round? It’ll only take a coupla minutes.’

It’s not a great mental stretch to think like that because this is a show that seems like a peer into the world of a professional chef dossing about with his mates. James Martin is the perfect host for this show (as John Tirode showed us a couple of weeks ago). He’ll take the piss out of just about anyone who goes on and with that, out goes the bravado and showmanship that blights so many of these programmes.

The only time we get to see some competitiveness is when the omlette challenge is afoot. The two guest chefs race against each other and, whilst there is a fair amount of pride at stake, not once do you hear ‘my reputation is on the line’. That in itself is a marvelous boon. On top of all that, the show is so relaxed that you get to see the person behind the chef. Chefs are always ogreish and in need of attention. However, this show just says ‘get on with it you mard arse. Fancy a brew?’.

Aside from the studio fun, you get amazing vintage Keith Floyd clips, wine advice (bottles for around a fiver or so) and phone-ins that genuinely help you out. The Saturday Kitchen is as close to perfect telly as you can get.