The French Revolution

Synopsis

Restaurant critic Giles Coren and writer and comedian Sue Perkins experience the food culture of years gone by.

Giles and Sue go for a journey back to Revolutionary France in the 1780s. Donning wigs and corsets, Giles and Sue find out what King Louis XVI ate, why Marie Antoinette was so hated, and how the Revolution was instrumental in creating the first restaurant and first restaurant critic.

French chef Mickael Weiss from London's Coq d'Argent sweats it out in the kitchens providing the lavish banquets in some of the most beautiful chateaus in France.

During the week, they sample frog's legs, a masked meal, an iced sculpture of the Bastille complete with fireworks and Marie Antoinette's soup before she was taken to the guillotine. Sue tries cake at Versailles while Giles has a banquet consisting entirely of a new vegetable called the potato.

Following in the footsteps of the king and queen, Giles and Sue escape from Paris in a horse-drawn carriage and end the week with a meal consisting entirely of black food and with a live pig as the guest of honour. The French Revolution in a week is truly a supersized undertaking.

Credits

Presenter

Giles Coren

Presenter

Sue Perkins

Director

Hugo Macgregor

Producer

Hugo Macgregor

Producer

Alannah Richardson

Broadcasts

1. Mon 6 Jul 2009
   21:00
   BBC Two (except Northern Ireland (Analogue), Wales (Analogue))
2. Sat 11 Jul 2009
   22:30
   BBC Two (England, Northern Ireland, Wales only)
3. Tue 28 Jul 2009
   01:05
   BBC One (except Northern Ireland, Wales)
4. Tue 4 Aug 2009
   01:30
   BBC One (Northern Ireland only)