Michael Winner recently visited Wilmslow for the first episode of his new cookery challenge series "Michael Winner’s Dining Stars", which will be shown on ITV this week.
Michael Winner has had a lifetime of dining in the finest establishments in the world but now Britain’s harshest restaurant critic is turning his attention to ordinary home cooks as he joins them and their guests at a dinner party they’ll never forget.
In this brand new four-part series, six contestants will each prepare a three-course meal for Michael Winner with the hope of being granted one of his prestigious Dining Star Awards and the chance to step into Michael’s own kitchen to cook for him and a celebrity gathering, including Sir Roger Moore, Kym Marsh, Christine Bleakley, Andrew Neil and Giorgio Locatelli.
As he prepares for his journey to the north, Michael is seen getting ready in his luxury mansion with the help of his assistants, Dinah and Joan who help pick out his clothes and wash his hair in beer.
He says: "The north is not a place I frequently go to, it is an alien country, it is another land, but it is beautiful. The people are nice, the people are very nice, but they provide food that is absolutely pathetic and they are incapable of cooking, so, I must say, where I am going does not totally thrill me."
The host in Wilmslow is Dean Lewis who has decided to follow a family tradition and serve Michael a West Indian speciality of ginger and coconut prawns followed by curried goat.
Dean says: "I like to think I can get three stars, but, you know, if I get none I’ll be highly disappointed, but I can’t see that happening, that’s not happening."
Michael phones Dean before he arrives and tells him he thinks it’s a very ambitious menu and that he’s an expert on curried goat. Dean is not ruffled by the call, but Michael thinks he should be, saying: "The first course sounds to me, a disaster. Why not have a simple first course? When I said you’re taking a high risk his attitude was, "Well, I can handle it." Well, I have been with chefs who thought they could handle it and they couldn’t."
When Michael arrives Dean’s family are star-struck and lost for words, but their guest keeps the conversation flowing with stories about himself before recording his thoughts about the meal in another room.
At the end of the programme there are tears, smiles and laughter as both Dean and the other host, Justine Forest from Longridge in Lancashire, are invited to London to find out what Michael thought of their meals and hospitality, and whether or not they would be awarded a Dining Star.
Michael Winner’s Dining Stars airs on Friday February 26th at 9pm in ITV.
Click here to read Michael Winner’s account of his visit to Wilmslow, which included lunch at Forty Four and a stay at Stanneylands.
Pictured: Michael Winner with The Dean Family ...(l-r) George Lewis (Dean's dad), Elliott Lewis (Dean's son), Sam Wakefield (Dean's sister), Michael Winner, Dean Lewis, Maia Lewis (Dean's daughter), Sophie Lewis (Dean's wife)
