Cooking is actually quite aggressive and controlling and sometimes, yes, there is an element of force-feeding going on.

I don't believe in low-fat cooking.

Then again, they're not scripted and I feel it's virtually impossible to be anything but yourself when you're in front of the cameras and cooking so there is a measure of truth in what you see.

In fact I am quite snappy and irritable, and I don't know if I'd like to make myself worse in that respect.

I know the crew so well, so I forget I'm being filmed. It's like cooking with a friend in the kitchen - you're talking, as you do, and maybe you're telling her about this wonderful way to prepare lamb chops - it's more natural, more honest.

People who have fabulous childhoods have this sense that nothing is ever going to be that good again. With me, I have the sense that nothing is going to be that bad.