Toast: The magic and humour in memoirs of my childhood suppers

An enjoyable drama showing life in the past and the special love between a mother and son. Good to see Nigel follow his interest and heart. Excellent casting.

A totally absorbing, apetising and time-travelling story that unfolded to reveal the formative years of the gentle TV chef, Nigel Slater. His journey from wolverhampton to London’s Savoy was totally enjoyable. Triumph over adversity.

A notable mention has to also go to the atmospheric soulful soundtrack – I feel a Dusty Springfield revival coming along This is my first review that I ever written, but I felt compelled to express my appreciation for a well-written piece that was totally enjoyable with excellent acting. As Nigel would say... 'Sublime'.

i just love watching nige cook he seems so nice. and i just watched toast and i thought it was brilliant didnt know much about him untill then what a moving story about his life! brillant little nige what a star. enjoyed it thanks x

I absolutely loved this! I cried loads, laughed loads and enjoyed reminicising about my own youth in the 60's. Another piece of BBC at it's best.

Thanks to everyone involved in providing this Christmas treat! Perfectly judged with Nigel's cameo giving a wonderfully hopeful and life-enhancing final touch.

Tonight programme was JUST BRILL it was a moving film. And to see Nigel at the end was icing on the Lemon Meringue. Nigel Slater Just the best.....

Thanks for making my nights veiwing great...

"Toast" was absolutely brilliant! Great performances all around, excellent art direction and full of emotion. And it was also one of the most beautiful on-screen kiss between two men.

Didn't know what to expect but found it funny and sad at various times. Excellent and well done to all!

Absolutely loved this - touching, funny, properly scripted, and made me really hungry

Really enjoyed this. Some great comic moments but I was crying or close to tears throughout. I'm not usually a weeper nor a poster of comments but think I've been particularly moved by it being a true story. So glad it all seems to have turned out well for Nigel in the end! Thanks to all concerned.

Thank you, really enjoyed it, great cast and brilliantly acted, pleased to see Nigel himself at the end, a bit of a Hitchcock moment, must read the book.

This is what I have been waiting for! A wonderful dramatisation of the extraordinary relationship between a lovely mother and her son who grew into the Nigel Slater we know and love. The casting was excellent, the film heart wrenching but so so inspiring. I must get the book... more tears on the way no doubt..

Toast took me through every possible emotion. My mother died when I was a child and I endured an unwelcome stepmother, similar to Nigel's experience. First class acting. First class writing. Thank you, Nigel, for sharing your early life. I'm so happy that you followed your dream and wish you continued success.

The book was absorbing, evocative and poignant. This television adaptation was entertaining but failed to covey so much that was important to the autobiography. Too many liberties with the text, too sanitized and too many omissions. In fact it stopped several years too early. Will we get Toast II at some point?



To all those that enjoyed this, please go and buy the book: it's brilliant!

A superb adaption of Nigel Stater's book. BBC Drama at its best

That was the best, it really took me on an emotional roller coaster. I love watching Nigel's cookery programmes and wonder if next time I watch there will be a tear in my eye. Thank you Nigel for sharing this with us. I am glad Nigel found the strength to stand up to all the adversity he faced, I certainly find him an inspiration and since watching him cook have changed my ways in the kitchen!

I dont think this could have been cast better either

It was absolutely lovely enjoyed every min and the soundtrack made it cos im the worlds biggest dusty fan ever! nigel LOVE YA ALL THE CAST WERE BRILLIANT TOO!

"Toast" is one more Gem in the BBC crown.

I watched 'Toast 'last night the story of Nigel Slater and his struggle with childhood,family tragedies and Nigels rise to the culinery star that he is.I was utterley blown away with how the story gripps you,beautiful piece of television.I utterley enjoyed every minute of it.Well done BBC.All BBC programmes are brill,but now and again something comes along that is pure perfection, and 'toast' is that.The last thing i watched that was this good was probably 'Good Night Mr Tom'with John Thaw. I have a message for Nigel Slater,your a wonderful person,and a blumming fab cook

Fantastic piece of TV Laughter and Tears the best production this Christmas. Sets and costume amazing and photography breathe taking. Hats off to Mr Slater and team, just one thing could we have seconds please!

What a fantastic piece of TV this was. A truly sad but wholly inspirational story of Nigel's life. Hats off to everyone . For me, the best programme on television this Christmas.

Thank you for showing toast on the BBC which I enjoyed enormously. Thank you also for showing (briefly) a particular picture by the well known railway poster artist Claude Buckle called the "Angler" and printed by Royles in the 60's. It would be interesting for us to know who owns this picture and why it was used in the program.

Best thing on TV this Christmas. Well done BBC!!

Food, families and fights. Perfect for Christmas.

I enjoyed the play very much. The great disappointment, having been brought up in Coalway Road, near where Nigel Slater lived (Percy Salt was our butcher and grocer), was apart from Helena Bonham-Carter and a lady at the wedding party, there were very few Wolverhampton accents. The accent is so distinctive that it would have greatly added to atmosphere of the piece

Excellent !!!!!

What more can I say. Great Chef, Love your programs, The music got me afloat again, must admit I did shed a tear.

I thought Toast was excellent...I really enjoyed the book when it came out in 2003...Helena Bonham Carter was excellent as were the rest of the cast...the sets were spot on....I loved the soundtrack...Dusty..so evocative of that time..well done to everyone involved at the BBC..and especially Nigel Slator....nice touch at the end...employing his young self!!

I knew nothing about Nigel Slater until I watched Toast last night. I must say that I did not take to his character at all.



He was argumentative and difficult even with his sick mother. His relationship with his father was poor and he made every effort to ensure that it did not improve. His attitude to the cleaning lady, Helena Bonham Carter, who became his father's second wife was one of horror and revealed an incredible level of snobbery in someone so young. He all but declared war on his step mother, and also his father, despite the fact his father's behaviour improved with the remarriage. His role was destructive and never constructive. Anyone sensible would have realised that his step mother, a very good cook, would have been a great asset in helping become a chef.



I had every sympathy with the character played by Helena Bonham Carter. She did not deserve that treatment from him. I could not understand why, despite everything he had done to undermine her and her marriage to his father, she still wanted him to stay after his father died. I would have been absolutely delighted to see the back of him!

Brilliant it was the best programme shown all over Christmas , thank you xxx

This is the BBC at its best. A great British drama taking you through a whole gambit of emotions 90 minutes. Fabulous screenplay, simply stunning acting and thoroughly compelling viewing, just superb. Well done and much much more of this please.

The Toast adaption was moving, funny and inspiring! Thanks for everything in 2010 Nigel!

I was really annoyed that the credits were shrunk and powered through so fast that I was unabl to read them.I think that shows total disregard of the contribution of everyone involved and arrogance of what the viewer might want to see.This happens too frequently , why bother with any credits if we can't read them

I enjoyed the film ,the acting was good and the clothes and sets were really good but I thought it was very slow .

loved this...ken stott is one of my favourite actors and helena b-c was a real scene stealer!!

Wonderful production - but I agree with #32: I was extremely annoyed that the credits were shrunk because I wanted to see who made up the superb cast. I was also extremely irritated by the immediate "leaping-in" of the continuity announcer the moment the indiscernible end credits started to roll, rudely intruding on the "afterglow" left by the film's uplifting ending. This happens all too often, and I would advise all those similarly annoyed by this practice to use the BBC website to register a formal complaint - as I did.

Wow!! wicked. A truly good Christmas treat. How to make Nigel Slater!

this was the bbc at its best, it was a truly memorable and beautiful piece of work, very moving. the acting was superb, the actors brilliant and the nostalgia it evoked for me as a child in the 50s with the shops, I could just about smell them!

I think this will go down as an award winning piece.

the only thing to spoil it was, as others have said, minimising the credits at the end so you couldn't see the names of the actors.

I have written to points of view in the past, but no-one seems to take notice. it is time they did!

susytish

It was a truly moving film in every aspect, with wonderful actors, true story, sadness, happiness, laughter, a film that one won't forget. It should have been a major film. I will read the book. I do watch Nigel Slaters cookery programmes when I can. He seems a lovely person, his mother would have been proud of him. Thanks to everyone.

BRRRRILLIANT. Bought back so many memories of my childhood, the clothing, the cookery classroom and the behaviour of people. What was acceptable and not. Well done all involved.

Toast was probably one of the best television programmes I have ever seen. Well done BBC.

deliciously warm and painful with sorrow all at once, toast was tv gold, thankyou one and all

Thought the programme was great but I must agree with comment #28.



I thought Nigel Slater's character was obnoxious. A spoilt, selfish child who as soon as he was challenged decided to wage war on everybody - and unfairly so.

At every stage I was waiting for him to grow up and to reconcile with his father or step mother but instead he continued to be and arrogant brat. Worst part of all, his poor attitude and behaviour resulted in him getting possibly his dream job in the Savoy hotel.



Once again, would like to say the show was brilliant and absorbing but if the show's (or the original book's) intention was make us empathise with Nigel Slater then I'm sorry it had the opposite effect.

I absolutely loved this play. Like others, I shed a tear or two. OK Nigel didn't come over as perfect but that made it better in my opinion.

I absolutely loved this portrayal of Nigel's early years - depicted so well the early years of the time - fantastic, stunning BBC at its' absolute best!! I so enjoyed reading the reviews and want to thank Nigel for this superb drama. Everything has been quoted in the reviews that I wanted to say. It was a moving story of his life and so well acted by all. It touched on one's childhood of the time and would like to thank and wish Nigel Slater all the best for the future. My wish is for a follow up to this exquisite story. I so enjoyed watching it so much that I had to watch it again for a second time.

My mum likes Nigel Slater's cookery programmes and I would like to read the book that this was based on! I liked the choice of Dusty Springfield songs too.



Ken Stott is a very versatile actor - I couldn't believe Nigel's dad was portrayed by the same man who was Steady Eddie in Takin' Over The Asylum!

Living abroad and away from your true British broadcasting really makes you appreciate the broad scope and the depth of the British drama in general. Compare this with the usual American menu...No where near son...No where near. Alas I put up my sateilte late this year, but boy was I glad I did so & yes it was worth the 750€. I had missed all of this & hats off to you again BBC for taking me back to my childhood in England and all things good...I only have one request (from anyone)...Pleas PLEASE tell me who sang the tracks in this as I have been looking high and low and cannot find anything concrete on Ruth Berrett (Facebook, Youtube etc etc)...

It was Dusty Springfield. She was the singer throughout the programme. Much missed too.

https://641cookery.blogspot.com/2011/01/toast-bbc1-thursday-30th-december.html



The best TV Drama I've seen for a long time. So good I wrote a review of it, partly in response to AA Gill's in the Sunday Times.

I quite enjoyed the programme and found a few parts very funny....but was left at the end feeling what the point was

Very nice movie, brilliant performance by Oscar Kennedy, unfortunately, the second part is rather dissapointing mainly due to bad work by Highmore (esp. in the scene Nigel learnt about the death of his farther).

I am not British and did not know who is Nigel Slater but this is a good movie to show epoch and a strong family drama as well (again, the first half of the movie).

I see that most of comments above agree with this marking the young Nigel as "destructive", "spoilt", "selfish". Dear fans of Helena Bonham Carter! She is a good actress, but please, keep in mind that in real life 9-years old boy who lost his mother and failed to find support in his father will behave exactly like this, protecting the last he was left with.

Hope BBC will put it on DVD.

My food-related book group here in Sacramento, California, just read Toast. Very touching. When is the DVD of Toast going to be made available...to us in the states as well? Very eager to see this. Thank you.

Fab I have the Marguritte Patten book briefly shown in the drama, he reads it under the bed clothes.

It has all those wonderful recipies in great colour.

Bonham-Carter was very good...but I felt for that character what happened to her?

he did seem rather 'Lord Snooty' with her

I first read Toast a few years ago and it made such an impact on me that I started to write my own book.

Like Nigel, I found refuge in the art of cooking when I lost my husband and then my mother. Their recipes were lost but their love for cooking inspired me to carry on the passion.

The dramatisation of the book is a good adaptation because it captures the essence of the story - dealing with loss and finding creativity in the art of cooking. I love the simplicity of Nigel's writting. Like his cooking - it makes sense & warms the heart.

I really enjoyed the TV screen play and have just been told that I've been chosen to give away 48 copies of Toast on World Book Night. 5th March 2011.