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It usually starts with a sip of something cold and ends with friends tipsily heading home, full and happy. British television sitcom written by Robert Popper and starring Tamsin Greig, Paul Ritter, Simon Bird, Tom Rosenthal, and Mark Heap. Having grown up in a time when travel was restricted to local holidays, she has spent her adult life fulfilling a desire to see the world. That ability to balance idiosyncrasy with mass appeal (catchphrases, in this day and age) is what makes Friday Night Dinner such a remarkable achievement.
The charm is in its peculiarity – and it uses that oddness to extract comedy that is irresistibly, viscerally funny, rather than cultish. Popper is also Jewish; the show’s premise revolves around the family coming together for a Shabbat meal (“Shalom, Jackie! It makes for the best liquor and you get corn and little bits of buttery onion in all the mussel shells. I’d be tempted to find a frisée lettuce or some endive and toss it with a very classic, thick vinaigrette.
A fried mozzarella, salami and honey sandwich; a tuna melt to silence all other tuna melts; a mound of egg fried rice. I fancied some of the ingredients you might find in the best kind of summer grazing lunch – sweet figs, sharp cheese, salty cured ham – but reimagined as a warm, comforting dinner. Some extra crunch might be nice, possibly in the form of some toasted pine nuts or walnuts scattered over when you come to serve. I agree – there is nothing more enticing than a table laden with bowls of olives and crisps, a bunch of fuschia radishes to swipe through salty butter, torn hunks of bread and a little dish of peppery oil, a piece of cheese to be hacked away at. The Goodmans will be missed by millions, but all good things must come to an end – and Friday Night Dinner was a really good thing.
Finally, add the tomato purée and cook for another two minutes, stirring so the onions are well coated. Occasionally, Friday nights are for shutting the world away and revelling in a moment of fallow time before the weekend. Perhaps we’ve become intimidated by the idea of having to host an Instagrammable evening, perhaps we lost some of our hosting mojo somewhere in the pandemic. Sometimes, I find the decision to have steak for dinner is just a cover for the sides I have a hankering for. This Friday, it celebrates its 10th anniversary with a documentary in which cast members including Tamsin Greig, Paul Ritter, Simon Bird and Tom Rosenthal, plus famous fans, relive the scrapes and squirrel quips that made Friday Night Dinner one of the most treasured comedies in recent memory – and the longest-running Channel 4 sitcom since Peep Show.Since I had so much time on my hands while the chicken roasted oh so slowly, I made the radish remoulade that Steafal suggests is a good accompaniment to the chicken. David Kynaston on A Northern Wind “When Labour under Wilson came to power in October 1964, it was after 13 years of Tory government.
She is a die-hard Francophile – speaking French helps tremendously – but put her anywhere and she is happy. I grew concerned that in the time it took to cook the rice, the resting roast chicken would surely cool off too much. Fry for a couple of minutes until the pieces crisp up slightly, then add the fennel seeds and thyme and cook for a minute. Are you nostalgic for a Parisian brasserie affair - côte de boeuf with thin fries and lashings of tarragon-flecked Béarnaise?A warning that this is going to give you two pretty generous portions of mash, but I tend to feel a bit panicky if there isn’t enough. Then reduce the heat to the lowest it’ll go and cook for four hours, or until the meat comes off the bone easily. The shared shorthand, the soporific nature of the sofa, the palpable irritation – and the freedom to express that irritation: it is a kind of cabin fever that brings out people’s unfiltered characters. I know this puts me firmly in the camp of people who complained they missed pubs and seeing friends, only to retreat back to the sofa at the first sign of a pint, and I’m not proud of it.
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