Tom Kerridge

Thomas Kerridge (born 27 July 1973) is an English chef.

After initially appearing in several small television parts as a child actor, he decided to attend culinary school at the age of 18.

He has since worked at a variety of British restaurants, including the Rhodes in the Square and Adlards.

He attended a youth theatre for three weeks when he was spotted and cast in the 1991 Christmas special of the BBC1 television show Miss Marple: They Do It with Mirrors.

A number of other small television roles followed, but at the age of 18 he decided to pursue his love of cooking instead of an acting career.

Kerridge found Marco Pierre White's White Heat cookbook inspiring, and states that it encouraged him to pursue a career as a chef by attending catering college in Cheltenham.

His first role in a professional kitchen was as a commis chef at Calcot Manor in Tetbury in 1991.

Kerridge went to work under renowned chef Philip Britten at the Capital hotel, Knightsbridge.

This was followed with three years at the Stephen Bull restaurant in Marylebone.

He moved around several restaurants as a chef de partie before joining Rhodes in the Square as sous chef under Gary Rhodes in 1999.

He spent a further two years as sous chef at Odettes in London.

In 2001 he became head chef for the first time, at Bellamys Dining Room, and then at Great Fosters in Surrey.

He moved back to London to become senior sous chef at Monsieur Max until 2003, before moving to Adlards in Norwich as head chef once more.

With his wife Beth Cullen-Kerridge, Kerridge opened a pub, the Hand & Flowers, in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, in 2005.

Within a year he gained his first Michelin star.

In 2005 he opened his own gastropub, The Hand & Flowers, which gained a Michelin star in 2006 and a second Michelin star in the 2012 list, becoming the first pub ever to hold two Michelin stars.

Kerridge describes himself as "not a Michelin-star kind of guy", which influenced his choice to open his gastropub.

His signature dish is his take on a pig roast involving cooking pork belly in a bain-marie, which is then wrapped in skin and roasted.

This is accompanied by a stuffed pig's trotter.

Kerridge has appeared on television in series five and six of the Great British Menu, supplying main courses to the final banquet on both occasions, and has subsequently appeared as a judge on the programme every year since competing and has also appeared on Saturday Kitchen.

In the 2012 list, Hand & Flowers became the first pub to win a second Michelin star.

Kerridge opened a second pub, the Coach, also in Marlow, which has also won a Michelin star.

In February 2013 he appeared as guest chef on the BBC programme Food and Drink.

In 2013 he presented his own BBC Two food programme Tom Kerridge's Proper Pub Food and then in spring 2014, he hosted Spring Kitchen with Tom Kerridge, which was aired in a daytime viewing slot on BBC One.

September 2013 saw Kerridge win the coveted AA Chefs' Chef of the Year Award at the AA Hospitality Awards at the London Hilton Hotel.

In January 2014, The Hand & Flowers was named the UK's top gastropub for the third consecutive year at the Budweiser Budvar Top 50 Gastropubs Awards.

September 2014 saw chef Kerridge win GQ's Chef of the Year award at the GQ Men of the Year awards held at the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden.

He later became the co-presenter of the show in 2015.

Kerridge presented Bake Off: Crème de la Crème (2016) and presents Food and Drink (2015–present), both for BBC Two.

Kerridge, whose parents divorced when he was 11, is the elder of two brothers.

His mother held down a number of jobs while moving the now single-parent family around several housing estates in Gloucester.

He attended Saintbridge Secondary School in the city, and began cooking for himself and his younger brother after school while his mother was at work.

Kerridge enjoyed riding his bike and visiting Westonbirt Arboretum.

In 2016, Kerridge presented Bake Off: Crème de la Crème for BBC Two.

Kerridge co-presented the 2016 BBC Two series The Food Detectives with Sean Fletcher and Alice Roberts.

He was replaced by Angus Deayton for the second series in 2017.

In 2017 he co-presented The Best of British Takeaways with Cherry Healey on BBC Two.

In 2017, he presented Tom Kerridge: Lose Weight For Good for BBC Two.

He opened the Butcher's Tap (butchers and pub under one roof) and opened his first London restaurant in 2018 at Corinthia Hotel London.

Kerridge has appeared on the Great British Menu, MasterChef, and Saturday Kitchen and presented How to Lose Weight For Good and Top of the Shop, both for the BBC.