Marvellous Mrs Beeton and slightly weird Sophie Dahl

The Marvellous Mrs Beeton

(BBC2)

You'll think I'm weird, but this is just between you and me, right? Good. Then here goes . . .

I, er, like watching food. Nothing more, just watching it. I've never in my life watched a cookery programme then wanted to put an apron on and wield a spatula.

Nothing that weird. I mean, nobody does that.

And so, another day, another cookery programme. Last night I could've sat down, put a pin in the TV listings and watched any number of culinary DIY shows being served up: Gordon Ramsay Swearing in the USA, Meals in Moments . . . I was even tempted by a documentary about The Kooks, until l realised it was about an indie band from East Sussex.

In the end, then, it was The Marvellous Mrs Beeton, with Sophie Dahl. I must admit, I prefer my Mrs Beeton without Sophie Dahl, but anyway . . .

Dahl probed the extraordinary life and times of her Victorian food heroine, Isabella Beeton – the creator of the original domestic bible, Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.

It says something about the thrifty times we are living in that 150 years after the book was first published, increasing numbers of people, including our Soph, are returning to Mrs B's guide.

Through cooking original recipes from her book, investigating her childcare advice and home remedies and even throwing a full Victorian dinner party, the model-turned-food writer Dahl wanted to know if the manual was still relevant today.

More interestingly, she also looked beyond the pages of the Book of Household Management, beyond the pepperpots and stew pans, to explore Isabella's life and times.

And it turned out that hers wasn't the good life we all seem to crave from our yesteryear hankerings. For the record, Mrs Beeton died aged 28, worn out by miscarriages, over-work and a husband who may have passed on syphilis to his wife. Food for thought.

Being a trifle cynical for a moment, you could almost see the minds of the programme-makers working out the ingredients to go into The Marvellous Mrs B: "I know, let's mix together people's appetite for nostalgia and food, add the original celebrity chef, a bit of Who Do You Think You Are with STD, garnish with Sophie Dahl and hey presto – another ready-meal cookery programme.

In the finish, The Marvellous Mrs B, as presented by Dahl, was costume drama domesticity for Downton Abbey fans, for those who feel their place is below stairs and who, misty-eyed and hungry for anything vaguely nostalgic on TV, would eagerly wolf down Mrs Beeton's observations on the common hog, put up their hands and say: "Please sir, can I have some more?"

Glowing from pregnancy, Dahl, with her Blue Peter-ish presentation style, hardly looked like she needed any of Beeton's domestic guidance, food or remedies. If there was a redeeming feature, however, it was in her howling one-liners.

"My pregnant arms!" she said at one point, whisk in hand. I'm no expert, but I don't think even one of Beeton's pigeon pies would have helped address this strange phenomenon.

And what of her opening line in the programme: "I'm not the only person who loves reading cookbooks."

I got to thinking: she's a bit weird, is our Soph.

By Ben Bentley