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- Cert: E
- Cat.no: 078 076 2
- Running time: 202 minutes
- Year: 1999
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2 (UK PAL)
- Chapters: 67 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby ProLogic)
- Languages: “Mockney”
- Subtitles: None
- Fullscreen: 4:3
- 16:9-enhanced: No
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras: Pick-a-dish
Director:
- Paul Ratcliffe
Series Producer/Director:
- Patricia Llewyelln
I can’t stand Jamie Oliver at all. From the moment he first appeared on my TV set, to the present day, every second he spends on the small screen is another contribution to my ever-increasing blood pressure. His ongoing advertising campaign with Sainsburys, including the moment where he got his nibbles stuck in his helmet, another video release entitled “Pukka Tukka” and an album, “Cookin'”, ‘music to cook by’, all serve to make you think that at the end of The Manchurian Candidate, Laurence Harvey was pointing in the wrong direction…
The programme is called ‘The Naked Chef’ because it’s about stripping down the recipe to its bare essentials and he quips, “No way, it’s not me, it’s the food!”. Oh, ho-ho-ho, Jamie. What a wag you are (!)
The trouble with Jamie Oliver is that he’s a ‘Mockney’, not a real Cockney wideboy wanker, ducking and diving, etc., he’s just a plain ol’ wanker, just a kitchen boy with rich parents who struck it lucky and is now on the television more times than Carol Vorderman.
This DVD comprises of all six episodes of his first TV series (yes, sadly, there is more than one), plus the 1999 Xmas special, making for nearly three hours and thirty minutes of Mockney Madness.
Having had the misfortune to sit through an episode when series two was broadcast, I noted that it was filmed in 16:9 widescreen. It’s clear from the cropping that so was the first series, but it’s been cropped to 4:3 here which is rather a non-starter to begin with, but on the plus side, at least there’s less of Jamie to be seen! I was unable to determine the average bitrate.
The sound is all dialogue plus the occasional music tune which is no doubt on his wonderful new album.
Extras :
Just the one main extra, but quite a good one nonetheless (see, I can have something good to say about the twerp if I think hard). Every dish in the series, is here and can be picked out individually. A list of ingredients is printed up onscreen and you can then skip to that part of the series which is held on the DVD as one of many separate titles for easy access.
The number of chapters per episode ranges between 7 and 11, making a grand total of 67 throughout the seven episodes.
The only downer I can say in this section is that there are no subtitles.
If you’re a fan and don’t mind it not being available in widescreen then it’s a disc for you. The 16:9 ratio probably won’t make a lot of difference to the end result since all the principal dishes will be kept within the 4:3 centre-frame.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS 0
OVERALL 
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.