Festive food on the BBC 25 years after Delia Smith's Christmas

2015 marks 25 years since Delia Smith’s Christmas, so Press Officer and foodie Alasdair Drennan remembers that landmark programme and looks back at Christmas food on the BBC. 

On Christmas Eve, 1990, the nation woke up to begin preparing to cook their Christmas dinner to under the reassuring direction of Delia Smith.

The celebrated chef who had already spent almost two decades on screen explaining the basics of cookery in her trademark straightforward and unpretentious way presented her first Christmas special in 1990.

In a six part series, Delia took her viewers through the basics, from making the pudding weeks in advance right through to preparing the perfect turkey the day before (25 years ago today), offering a sprinkling of her characteristic hints and tips throughout.

Delia returned to champion festive fare in 2009 but in between a new television favourite emerged. The Christmas cookery special.

Gary Rhodes

Restauranteur and chef, Gary Rhodes, whose programmes championed British cuisine, established himself as a festive favourite in the late Nineties with a series of Christmas specials. Gary brought his charm and spikey hair to the festive table to cook up Christmas treats the whole family could enjoy.

Jamie Oliver

In 1999 a little-known chef made his TV debut and the country was introduced to Jamie Oliver. The fresh faced and cheeky Naked Chef shot straight to stardom and made his Christmas TV debut the very same year. In The Naked Chef: Christmas Comes Early Jamie introduced us to delicious festive menu. The next year, Jamie took his viewers across the pond to cook up a New York Christmas inspired meal and in 2001 he gave us the perfect Christmas party and has not looked back since.

Ready Steady Cook

Everyone’s favourite daytime cooking competition Ready Steady Cook debuted in 1994 and continued on air until 2010. In the late Nineties and early Naughties, Fern Britton and later Ainsley Harriet was joined in the kitchen by a host of celebrities battling it out to be crowned the festive champion with their winnings being donated to charity.

Nigella Lawson

Nigella first adorned our festive TV schedules in 2006 with her original series for the BBC, Nigella’s Christmas Kitchen. She brought fun to the kitchen, set out her philosophy for enjoying kitchen duties in the run up to Christmas. This series marked the start of a host of fantastic programmes, both at Christmas and throughout the year with her simple and delicious recipes. This year, Nigella rounded off her series Simply Nigella with some American-themed treats, including an indulgent cider and 5-spice bundt cake.

Two Fat Ladies

Clarissa Dickson Wright and Jennifer Paterson were the Two Fat Ladies. Famous for their rich and indulgent cooking, the pair brought good humour to the kitchen and in 1998, they cooked up an alternative Christmas feast from Jamaica.

Hairy Bikers

David Myers and Si King, also known as the Hairy Bikers first rode onto our screens in 2006 with The Hairy Bikers’ Cookbook and it wasn’t long before the joined the BBC’s cohort of festive chefs. In 2008, they travelled the country cooking up their favourite festive recipes. They returned a year later to reinterpret festive classics in The Hairy Bikers’ Twelve Days of Christmas when they cooked up a delicious array including three French hens, six geese a-laying and, of course, a partridge in a pear tree. In 2010 they, once again, took to the road in Mum’s know best at Christmas seeking out the most interesting and unusual Christmas recipes from around the UK.

Bake Off

What list of yuletide culinary delights would be complete without a nod to the year’s most successful television programme? More than 13 million people tuned in to watch Nadiya crowned winner of this year’s series but the nation couldn’t be expected to embark on a season of cakes, biscuits, pies and gingerbread houses without the guidance of baking royalty. This year, as they have done in years gone by, Paul and Mary guided us effortlessly through a host of stunning bakes culminating in a stunning Pandoro.

Fanny Craddock

And of course, let's not forget the woman who forged a path for everyone who came after her. The end of the war and a halt to rationing heralded a new era for food and dining in Britain. Television ownership was booming but reviews of the earliest cooking programmes were far from flattering - black and white television sets were not the best way to exhibit a chef's culinary delights. Cooking needed its first personality. And this arrived in the form of Fanny Craddock. And what a personality she was.

In Fanny Cradock Cooks for Christmas, in just 10 minutes the formidable cook adorned in a fabulous pink dress, showed her audience the many ways to serve mincemeat - none of which included small bite-size pies, for which she did not hide her disdain. The show has since become a cult favourite and was dusted off and repeated on BBC Four in 2006.

• You can find all your festive food solutions at BBC Food
• Catch up with Nigella's Christmas Special