‘Chef!’ was a distinctive BBC sitcom that starred Lenny Henry. He wanted to star in a sitcom that would be different from the character-driven sketch comedy he had previously been in.
He came up with the idea that was developed with Peter Tilbury to become the first episode. Although Henry wanted to play a character that was a “monster” – the arrogant, tyrannical, yet brilliant chef Gareth Blackstock – he initially had concerns about playing such an abrasive character, so they tried to make Gareth Blackstock a character you could root for despite his flaws.