The Craftsmen’s Dinner
with Michel Roux
Series Director and Co-Creator
6 x 10 min, Rogan Productions (2016)
Michelin-starred chef, Michel Roux goes in search of the craftspeople creating some of Britain’s most rarefied handmade goods: from a knifemaker who spends over 8 hours sharpening a single blade; to a salmon smoker who insists on playing music to his fish as they smoke.
Along the way, Michel collects ingredients for an extraordinary meal of his own: a celebration bringing together the very best of British handmade craft.
Produced in partnership with the Balvenie whisky.
Episode 1: Ferraby Knives
Michel meets one of the last knife-makers in Britain, Will Ferraby, to see how he transforms Sheffield steel into one of the finest culinary knives you can buy.
The challenge at the end of this episode was devising a visual way to show just how sharp Will’s knives really are. In the end, myself and series DoP, Robert Hollingworth, devised a mid-air knife-off against a factory-made blade involving several tomatoes, a sheet of glass and some unusual camera angles…
Episode 4: Ridgeview Winery
Michel meets Simon Roberts, Winemaker and Production Manager of Ridgeview Winery, to discover the craft that goes into making a British sparkling wine that many believe rivals Champagne.
‘Going Wolf Hall’ – a lighting challenge
For Michel’s final dinner, myself and series cinematographer, Robert Hollingworth, wanted to create an intimate, magical feel that would make the viewer feel as if they were dining alongside the contributors at a Victorian banquet. The solution lay in borrowing a leaf out of the recent BBC adaptation of ‘Wolf Hall’ by doing away with electrical lighting altogether.
Instead, we relied on the light from just 15 candles strategically placed around the room. The only challenge then lay in creating camera angles that avoided revealing the 6 foot motorised crane that we’d positioned in the far corner of the room…
