The Box
Synopsis
Three enthusiastic home cooks try to make a delicious dish using the day's ingredient boxes. With no recipe books, all of the dishes must come from the players' cooking brains.
Each episode divides into two halves. The first challenge is set by a celebrity, who gives each cook a selection of ingredients. The cooks have 50 minutes to make something yummy.
The best dish, as judged by the celeb guest, gets to choose who gets which boxes in the second round. These boxes are labelled with generic names - "global", "basic", "pudding".
The best dish in this second test allows host James Martin to decide who wins the coveted Cook of the Day award.
James stands on set: it's bright but basic.
The programme moves on quickly - with two rounds to fit into 30 minutes, there's little time to waste. James talks to the players while they're working. He tells them (and, by extension, us viewers) tips to improve their cooking.
We found The Box to be a minimalist show, restrained backing music, simple camera shots. It helped the programme tell its story, and concentrate on the food.
