JAMIE AND JIMMY’S FRIDAY NIGHT FEAST, C4, 8pm
SURELY a “Friday night feast” should be a takeaway? After a tough week at work is there anything better than lifting the phone to order in a delivery?
That’d certainly be my choice but the more noble and health-conscious among us might shudder at the thought, and prefer something home-cooked. And, if you’re especially noble and health-conscious you’ll opt for something that’s both home-cooked and vegetarian.
Tonight, the two chefs meet Joanna Lumley at their restaurant on Southend Pier, and she shows them how to make the King of Malaysia’s favourite dish, kuzi, which involves aubergine and thin pancakes.
Jamie Oliver then chips in a veggie recipe of his own. How do you fancy a savoury pie made from butternut squash which is then sprinkled with sugar? No thanks.
EIGHT DAYS THAT MADE ROME, C5, 9pm
YOU don’t need to be a classics scholar, a student, or a history buff to know about Nero.
Some figures from Roman history are just so huge and daunting that they’ve worked their way into everyday discourse, and Nero is one of the most infamous.
The mere mention of his name provokes images of cruelty, wild splendour, and depravity, and historians don’t think very fondly of him. Some sources even accuse him of setting fire to Rome and then watching from a hill, playing his “fiddle” as it burned.
In this episode, historian Bettany Hughes tries to cut through all the lurid tales about Nero to get to the truth of the man, focusing on his downfall. His violent death provoked civil war and unrest, and dangerously destabilised Rome, and can be regarded as a crucial point in the eventual decline of the Roman empire.
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