The Restaurant (UK TV Series)

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The Restaurant
The title screen of The Restaurant
Genre	Reality television series
Starring	Raymond Blanc
Narrated by	Alex Jennings
Theme music composer	Dru Masters
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	15
Production
Running time	60 minute episodes
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC Two
Picture format	PAL
Original run	2007 – Present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile

The Restaurant is a British reality television series in which a group of couples compete for the chance to set up a restaurant financially backed and personally supported by French chef Raymond Blanc. The winning couple are given their own restaurant to run, in Oxfordshire, near to Blanc's own Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons.

The first series aired on BBC Two in 2007 and a second series is planned for 2008. The programme has its own spin-off, The Restaurant: You're Fried! which airs on BBC Three after the main programme.

In the US, the show is titled Last Restaurant Standing on BBC America. The first series is airing in spring 2008.

1 Format
2 History
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Format

Nine couples with little or no restaurant experience compete in a series of challenges whilst running their own restaurants. Challenges are set by Raymond Blanc, a successful French chef who owns a number of restaurants in the UK, most notably Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons. The couples live together in a shared house during the eight-week series.^[1]

Each week, Blanc sets a task, such as to make as much profit from selling cocktails or desserts. Each couple's restaurant is visited by Blanc's "inspectors" – restaurant industry experts Lee Cash, Sarah Willingham and John Lederer - who report back to Blanc on the service, food and organisation of each. There is then a "boardroom" showdown whereby each couple is given individual feedback. All couples are then called in together and the "Restaurant of the Week" award is presented to the couple deemed to have performed the best during the task. Blanc then names the three (or two in later episodes) poorest performing couples that will perform a further challenge.^[1]

In the specific challenge, the three couples choose helpers from amongst the other contestants. They then compete again in tasks such as selling the most meals in a cafeteria. The couple deemed to be the worst performing are eliminated by Blanc, with the line "I'm closing your restaurant".

The Restaurant is shown twice a week; the first being the task in which all couples take part, and the second being the challenge and subsequent elimination of one couple.

The theme music is written by Dru Masters,^[2] and other music used includes Waltz No. 2 from Shostakovich's Jazz Suite and Showtime from the soundtrack to Magnolia composed by Jon Brion. Some music from the Amelie soundtrack is used the series.

[edit] History

The BBC announced the production of The Restaurant in October 2006, with chef and restaurateur Raymond Blanc named as the star of the series.^[3] Blanc invested a six-figure sum of money into the programme, and was described as being "very excited" about the series.^[4]

The first series began airing on August 29, 2007 and drew to a close on October 17, 2007. The series saw married couple Jeremy and Jane Hooper win the chance to set up their own restaurant, Eight at the Thatch, in the Oxfordshire town Thame, which opened in November 2007.^[5]

As of 5th May, 2008, Jeremy and Jane stepped down and left Eight at the Thatch, their brief tenure marked by reported rampant arguments and failure.

On January 28, 2008 the BBC confirmed the return of the programme for a second series, due to air at some point in 2008.^[6] Applicants are currently being invited to audition for the second series, which are due to take place in March and April 2008. Once again, nine couples are expected to take part in the programme, which is due to be filmed in the Summer of 2008. It is reported in The Aylesbury Commuter newspaper(8/5/08) that two local restaurants, The Green Dragon in Haddenham and Le Bistro in Wendover are to feature in the next series with filming commencing 21st May 2008^[7]