Chef! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Le Château Anglais

Le Château Anglais is entirely fictitious. L'Ortolan is a Michelin Guide listed restaurant in Shinfield, Reading, Berkshire, at which Lenny Henry was taught how to act like a chef. Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons is a Michelin Guide listed restaurant in Great Milton near Oxford, in Oxfordshire, on which Le Château Anglais was partly patterned. Nether Winchendon House in Buckinghamshire is an historic building used mainly for weddings at which many of the scenes for "Chef!" were filmed.

Answer: Lenny Henry

Sir Lenworth George Henry, CBE (b. 1958) teamed with Peter Tilbury to create "Chef!". Henry has long been critical of the lack of black actors in British media yet he played Blackstock as a complex, brilliant, flawed, human culinarist who simply happened to be black. He was appointed a Commander in the Order of the British Empire in 1999 and knighted in 2015.

Answer: Everton Stonehead

Everton starts out as a bumbling hazard in the kitchen. In the first season, he loses a bloody finger bandage (Elast-O-Plast) somewhere in the food and numerous serving preparations are destroyed looking for it. His knowledge of Caribbean food becomes essential to Chef in a later episode and he grows to become a confidante.

This does not, however, prevent Chef from saying about him "Everton, let me explain things to you. In the world of cooking, I am Einstein. Lucinda is Isaac Newton. And you are a mud-dwelling unicellular bit of jelly with a predilection for consuming its own excrement." Chef talks like that.

Answer: Michelin Guide: 2 stars

Because restaurant ratings often determine the success or failure of fine-dining restaurants, they matter tremendously. Bernard Loiseau (1951-2003), the chef de cuisine at La Côte d'Or, was despondent when the Gault Millau downgraded his restaurant from 19/20 to 17/20, and committed suicide with a shotgun when a newspaper leaked that the Michelin Guide was going to remove one of this three stars. In the programme, Chef is forever vigilant for "spies" from the reviewing agencies who may be in his dining room.

Answer: alcoholism

Played by Jeff Nuttal in the second and third seasons, Gustave LaRoche is an alcoholic who has lost his credibility in the industry because of his unreliability. Chef finds him working at a tiny restaurant where they do not allow him to cook with wine. Chef gets him into alcohol treatment but his occasional relapses disrupt the work in the kitchen.

Answer: Lola

Elizabeth Bennett plays Lola, the Maître d' who loves food and praises all of Chef's creations, proclaiming each one to be her "favourite." Chef is consistently rude to customers. In one scene his wife asks him 'You've been fighting with the customers?' to which he responds 'Well, somebody's got to do it.' Lola has the ability to soothe and calm upset patrons, even taking their side against the irate culinarian.

Answer: Cyril Bryson

Chef is seemingly oblivious to costs in his pursuit of perfection in dining, which imbalances the books and his relationship with his wife, who attempts to "manage" the restaurant. This is further aggravated by Chef's pathological hatred of bankers. They are finally forced to cede financial control to Cyril Bryson (played by Dave Hill) who insists that his talentless daughter Renée be hired in the kitchen.

The other staff resent her presence and call her "Reeney" to her great aggravation. Bryson speaks in curiously-composed sentences, e.g. 'This is the eye of the needle that breaks the camel's back!'

Answer: Piers

Piers comes in a close second place to Everton as the object of Chef's verbal abuse. He is well intentioned but his judgment is often impaired by the mass quantities of marijuana which he consumes. Played by Gary Parker, he demonstrates flashes of brilliance at plating.

Answer: "Serious Profession"

The words and music to "Serious Profession" were written and are performed by Omar (who goes by his first name only). Omar's smooth performance well suits an opening in which Chef, in his calmest and most professional moments, is dressing in his crisp white chef's jacket for a day of service.

Answer: Janice

Janice (played by Caroline Lee-Johnson) and Chef have been married for eight years when the series begins. They buy the restaurant together. She is very interested in her Oxfordshire country cottage, gaining publicity for the restaurant, keeping her Jaguar E-type roadster and getting pregnant.

Her husband's career has a negative impact on all of those goals. At one point, she says 'I consequently have a sex life slightly less active than the Singing Nun.' Their relationship is on and off as a result of the strain.