The F Word (British TV series) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids The F Word
Genre	Food magazine/Cooking show
Starring	Gordon Ramsay Giles Coren (Series 1–2) Janet Street Porter (Series 2–5)
Opening theme	"The F Word" by Babybird
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	5
No. of episodes	51 (Series 1–5)
Production
Running time	44 minutes
Release
Original network	Channel 4
Original release	27 October 2005 (2005-10-27) – 7 January 2010 (2010-01-07)
Chronology
Related shows	The F Word (American TV series)

The F Word (also called Gordon Ramsay's F Word) is a British cookery programme featuring chef Gordon Ramsay. The programme covers a wide range of topics, from recipes to food preparation and celebrity food fads. The programme was made by Optomen Television and aired weekly on Channel 4. The theme tune for the series is "The F-Word" from the Babybird album Bugged.

Programme segments

Each episode is based around Ramsay preparing a three-course meal at the F Word restaurant for 50 guests. Diners in the restaurant include celebrities, who participate in conversations, challenges, and cook-offs with Ramsay. Other segments focus on food-related topics such as alternative foods, visits by Ramsay to help people focus on healthy cooking and eating, and even Ramsay himself demonstrating recipes of the courses to the home viewers. Finally, there was a series-long feature on home-reared livestock or poultry that was ultimately served to F Word diners on the series finale.

Series 1

Gordon Ramsay

The first series is based around the "Get Women Back in the Kitchen" campaign where Ramsay visited several English households to help women who wanted to improve their culinary skills. The Times's restaurant critic Giles Coren and food writer Rachel Cooke acted as field correspondents who presented reports on unique food fads and healthy eating respectively. Two or three commis (picked from a thousand applicants) squared off in each episode to earn a position at one of Ramsay's restaurants. Ramsay raised turkeys in his garden, so that his children gained a better understanding of where their food came from. Chef and television presenter Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall regularly offered tips on raising free range turkeys. The turkeys were named after other celebrity chefs, for example, Ainsley, Antony, Jamie, Delia, Gary and Nigella. The pudding (dessert) challenge regularly pitted Ramsay with a celebrity guest, with the winner having the honour of serving his or her pudding to the guests at the F-Word restaurant.

Series 2

The series theme emphasises the importance of Sunday lunch, with Ramsay teaching families how to prepare this meal on a regular basis. From the second series onward, the restaurant had 50 paying diners served by an amateur brigade. If guests found any of their food unsatisfactory, they could choose not to pay for that item. Janet Street-Porter became the series' regular field correspondent; Giles Coren only appeared in a one-off segment on the Pimp That Snack web site and phenomenon. The celebrity pudding challenge was changed to a general cooking challenge, while Ramsay raised pigs in his garden, which he named Trinny and Susannah. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall returned to offer advice on raising the pigs. Unlike Series 1, the second series of the show was usually transmitted after the 9pm watershed, meaning that Ramsay's infamous bad language was no longer bleeped out.

Series 3

This series ran a campaign stating that "Fast food doesn't have to mean junk food", with Ramsay showing people how to prepare a simple supper in under 30 minutes, without having to order takeaways or rely on prepackaged meals or other convenience food. The best weekly amateur brigade was rewarded with the prestige of cooking at Ramsay's restaurant at Claridge's in the series finale. Ramsay home-reared a pair of Charollais-Welsh lambs, named Charlotte and Gavin. There was also a series-long search for a new "Fanny Cradock" which culminated in the selection of Ravinder Bhogal.

Series 4

This series' weekly amateur brigade featured a celebrity and their relatives. Janet Street-Porter took on the responsibility of rearing veal calves nicknamed Elton and David in a North Yorkshire farm. Food columnist Tom Parker Bowles appeared on two episodes. In his first appearance, he visited Sardinia to sample casu marzu, a local cheese containing maggots. On his second stint, he attempted to cook a whole pig.

Series 5

A fifth series premiered on 3 November 2009 on Channel 4. The series focused on a search for "Britain's best local restaurant". 10,000 nominations were narrowed down to 18 restaurant finalists representing nine different cuisines. The second round involved the finalists serving their signature dishes to a panel of diners at their own establishments, followed by a semi-final cook-off at Ramsay's flagship restaurant at Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea.

U.S. version

On 30 September 2016, Fox announced that The F Word would go to the United States sometime in 2017. On 3 February 2017, it was announced that it would air for the summer. Each installment of the series will be presented live and will feature surprise guests and VIPs as well as foodie families from across the U.S. battling in cook-offs.

The series premiered on 31 May 2017 on Fox.

Episode guide

Series 1

Series 2

Series 3

Series 4

Series 5

International broadcasters

The show has been broadcast around the world including the following countries:

Country	Broadcaster
Argentina	Film&Arts i-Sat
Australia	7TWO Nine Network
Canada	BBC Canada Food Network Canada Casa
Finland	Jim MTV3
Greece	Skai TV
Hong Kong	Asia TV
Hungary	Paprika TV
Ireland	TV3
Italy	Rai 5
Netherlands	RTL 4
New Zealand	TV One
Norway	VOX
Philippines	Lifestyle Network
Poland	BBC Lifestyle
Portugal	Sic Radical
Quebec	Casa
South Africa	BBC Lifestyle
South Korea	Dong-a TV
Sweden	Kanal 5
United States	BBC America FOX

In South Korea, the show was renamed Cook-King

DVD releases

North America

BFS Entertainment has released all five series of The F Word on DVD in Region 1.

United Kingdom

IMC Vision has released the first four series of The F Word on DVD in Region 2.

See also

In Spanish: The F Word para niños