Who Remembers the Two Fat Ladies?

They were entertaining, but also rabidly homophobic.

R1 Well, they’re both long dead, and you’re still alive and loving cock. So who won that one?

Interesting, because they seemed like too old dykes. Still loved the show.

saw a few episodes. they were disgusting. they used soooo much butter in everything.

“I’M making butter cutlets fried in lard with gooseberry jam and kidneys!!”

" they used soooo much butter in everything."

That's what British cooking was about until fairly recently. Tons of butter, lard, suet and few other fats.

Americans hear word "pudding" and think creamy dessert made with milk. In UK there is that but also plenty of puddings made from suet, meat drippings and other fats. Yorkshire pud comes to mind.

The dark haired one was the chef at the Spectator magazine for some years and was very beloved all around Westminster. The blonde one was an aristocrat who owned a bookshop "Books for Cooks". They were both apparently fantastic people and loads of fun to have over to supper.

The Australian comedy show Something Stupid did hilarious sketches on them.

I watched this as a kid and somehow always got confused between them and the Hairy Bikers (and sometimes Kim and Aggy).

In hindsight it was a cute idea for a show, typical quaint British infotainment. Unfortunately hindsight also shows us how foul most of their food looked...

Yes! We were just talking about them.

R8 Shee-it! where did you find that clip? That’s a rare case of comedians really going IN on a subject. It’s so good! They also really managed to look and sound like The Two Fat Ladies. It’s amazing.

I watched that program and enjoyed it, but in retrospect it wasn’t so great as nonfiction media because they didn’t offer amounts or even temperature settings. You really couldn’t replicate these recipes. Maybe that’s good.

I did enjoy seeing some of the final dishes, served to different groups of diners, like students or nuns. I saw a documentary about Jennifer, the dark-haired Fat Lady and found it pretty touching. Clarissa looks to have been a rougher character, a real hopeless drunk and pretty conservative, but she came from money and had some intellectual prowess, too.

Clarissa was sober and in AA. The true drunk of the two was Jennifer, who brought a hipflask of vodka with her everywhere she went.

R12 That’s true, she recovered from alcoholism. I was surprised to read that she lived about 15 years past the final season of that program and she managed to find only sporadic work during that time, going bankrupt, losing a businesses and getting into legal conflict over hunting regulations. Her bio is pretty fascinating.

I read earlier somewhere that Jennifer owed money to Clarissa at the time of her death.

It looks like the success of that television program didn’t position either of them for any real security. It’s very sad. I liked them both very much in my youth. Watching them was, in some ways, like visiting with eccentric relatives. I think some lonely people may have picked up on that. I really did.

After depression and grief-induced midnight run for a slice of cake (MARY!), I decided to shake up my culinary youtube watching from my 'Anti-Chef' Jamie, for an episode of 'Two Fat Ladies'. They must have been closeted lesbians. Alcoholics and totally covered up bad mistakes they made early in life.

This Christmas dinner episode is dreadful. I feel terribly sorry for the child choristers who are little robots for the church thing, along with having to eat what must've been the most inedible frivolous meal ever concocted. Only the Ice Cream 'Christmas Pudding' Bombe would've been worth the time. It is otherwise a whole pile of wtf. The amount of preparation needed for most of these dishes would make Julia Child headspin, for such unattractive and dreadful results.

This show aged like milk! How was this considered classy TV in the 1990s?

When Ina Garten showed up on FN I truly thought she was supposed to be the American counterpoint to the Fat Ladies. Of course, she was totally different, a Jewish princess married to a Yalie, indulged to the nnth degree, and fun - but pretentious. Totally different from Jennifer and Clarissa.

They made me laugh. Yes homophobia a byproduct of history. Not to excuse it

Agree w poster who said they’re long dead and we’re still loving cock

Lesbians

Their unpretentiousness was one of the best things about the show. That's what older County Ladies were like, even the very rich ones, when I was a kid. Some of them were mean, some of them were a joy to be with, like these two. But none of them were ever pretentious. That was the point of Hyacinth Bucket - she got it all wrong in her pretentious, prissy caring about what others thought. That's why she was so incredibly funny.

I once walked in on one of their book signings at a London bookstore. There was literally NO ONE buying the book or showing any interest in them at all. I remember their agent or PR maybe, hustling about, moving stacks of books around, trying to make it look like there was some sort of activity going on.

[quote]That was the point of Hyacinth Bucket - she got it all wrong in her pretentious, prissy caring about what others thought. That's why she was so incredibly funny.

Yes, British class.

I remember I knew this older man whose son was expelled from his public school. This man was new money and he was so ashamed. The upper class father who he aspired to, wouldn't have been at all ashamed - shows the boy has spirit! Fuck that shitty school and the idiots who run it!

r20 Exactly.

Ultra Catholic asexuals.

I found them super amusing and the show entertaining. Sorry to hear that they didn’t have financial success resulting from the show.

I really enjoyed their show and I have 2 of their cookbooks. I've never made one of their recipes,lol, but I did enjoy watching them. I don't believe they. were Lesbians, they talked about men an awful lot. They were 2 bawdy broads and I was sorry when they died. Jennifer had been fighting cancer for a while, and that's why she wore the smock, with the split in the back. She was getting chemotherapy while they filmed.

Why were they homophobic?

R25, see r22 - ultra-Catholic asexuals

they were right cunts but they had their positive points:

Who remembers the 1990s??? 🤷‍♂️

I donn't know about Clarissa but Jennifer was not homophobic, I watched the short biography of her and she was very campy and had a lot of gay friends who were her primary friends in Taormina. Vegetarians don't like them and take an opportunity to spike them

Clarissa didn’t die. She laid low for a while and then re-emerged as political super-villain Steve Bannon.

r25 product of their generation and socioeconomic class (even if it was abandoned shortly there after)... the attitude towards homosexual acts was it was something the poors do while the generation had fanciful takes on it as an immature love that never matures aka everyone is a homosexual but then grows up.. kind of attitude and a philosophy co-opted from the ancient greeks, which in it's modern form, slightly more pc form now, is "the love languages". It's largely more the generation that came before them, maybe even that one before that, really. It's difficult Americans to conceptualize "old" european countries when they seem so progressive in other ways to them. -- the short of it, western society tends to be more liberal with economic rises and more conservative when it declines... the scapegoats also rarely change. You'd have to look at the the edwardian to victorian for the mindset, though for much of the west it was 1920s that started the modern turn, then wwii to follow. the latter radically changed the mindset of many brits... some would theorize it's part of the collective trauma today even if ihat generation is largely gone... their children, grans, ignorant to the bias rooted therein. Never really discussed outside of the detached historical perspective, therefore never resolved. Quite frankly, you could compare this specific socioeconomic group and their generational transitions to the American South and old money families in many ways. . . also, comparable is that most of the popular was the greater class distinctions, being surrounded by a lot more poors. . . and of course, both groups being offset by the rise of the middle class (in truth, the uk lagged behind on the social level in regards to this... but the concepts of eugenics as a moral, progressive, public health benefit also ties into it as well. But we don't even discuss that shit in the u.s. without screeching hysterics from the history revising fraus.)

r28 please mofo, y'all watch reruns and pretend you were the first to discover it. Not that anyone believes you're that young and here, little prince.

r29 you do know you live in era where most people think everyone was homophobic, racist, sexist until just recently? Everything is problematic and triggering. . . and heck, for the last two decades, we've heard how gays and lesbians are even more homophobic than str8 men.

Jennifer was a personal chef for Prince Charles, and she knew about Camilla. She and Clarissa snarked about in in one ep.

I've been laying low, and watching Jennifer and Clarissa knock their way about the UK. I love them.

I used to love to watch them. They were kind of cute and entertaining. Some of the shit they made. There was no way in hell I’d eat.

Clarissa and Jennifer. How British! Today we'd have Chardonnay and Nikita. Britain is truly fucked.

A couple years ago I read a piece on them, a bit of a tell all, and apparently they weren't close. The show made it some like they were old buddies but I think they were put together solely for the show and really didn't know each other well and didn't particularly care that much for one another. Jennifer was a real trained professional chef and looked down on Clarissa for being an amateur.

I seem to remember Clarissa getting all upset about gay sex clubs in London and trying to close them down.

Two Fat Ladies S03E02 Pony Club

Clarissa was an eloquent speaker about her Christian faith. I admired her, without agreeing with her.

The Mind of the Maker: Clarissa Dickson Wright speaks at St Paul's Cathedral

One f Jennifer's Obits.

People, this wasn’t a show one watched for the recipes.

Oh My Gosh! I loved them. Watched it every week

They taught me what streaky bacon is.

You could tell how much Jennifer loved saying "I'm putting a faggot of herbs in this pot".

I think I read on Findadeath the two were nominated for some award and when they didn’t win, they were disgusted and stomped out of the venue.

Clarissa was a raging drunkard.

They gave me high key asexual religious fanatic vibes.

I could never get into them.

I preferred Keith Floyd for my drunken TV cook needs.

Clarissa was definitely not asexual. She fucked her way through a ton of men during her drinking years, including one MP behind the Speaker’s chair in the House of Commons.

R46 And the building next door collapsed from the quake.

yeah, they didn't seem prim at all, joking about drunken nights and debauchery

R1 do you personally know they were anti-gay?

OLD COCK!!!

Loved their show. They were genuine personalities and the show let a lot of that come through.

I agree. it wasn't a cooking or travel show, it was a SHOW

It must have been incredibly difficult for them to scissor...

Jennifer was not a homophobe, in fact, she was a card-carrying fag hag. Clarissa was a right wing pile of shit, despised the gays & like most ultra-conservatives, was a "rules for thee, but, not for me " type ( sexually promiscuous, fucked married men, a drunk). Clarissa's mother left her a large inheritance, she pissed it all away & was homeless at one point. Bizarrely, Clarissa made an appearance on "Absolutely Fabulous", I think Jennifer was dead by then...

were there fat gentlemen?

They actually inspired me to go to culinary school.

Are you a fat lady?

I was after culinary school. I think I gained probably 15 pounds. Best food I’ve ever had in my life.

are you now a skinny lady?

Yes, I am. I work in a restaurant so I walk constantly the pounds melted it off.

And smoke a carton a day

Check out her full name, from her obit in The Guardian

Baptised Clarissa Theresa Philomena Aileen Mary Josephine Agnes Elsie Trilby Louise Esmerelda, Dickson Wright grew up in north London. Her father, Arthur, was a brilliant surgeon and food lover – pigeons were flown in from Cairo for the Dickson Wright table and caviar was frequently on the menu. But he was also a violent alcoholic who beat Dickson Wright and her mother.

She became a barrister but after herself descending into alcoholism quit law and began working as a cook in grand homes.

Looking at that series again, I wonder why it was popular. Their "act" gets pretty old pretty fast. And their recipes are heart attack inducing.

I always thought they were lezzies.

Me too

R66 The show had a great title; they were amusing old broads who put on a good show; the fact the food was 'out there' made it fun; it was a British show so there's only 24 episodes.

Not really hard to figure out why it was popular...

R69, I've been watching them on Youtube, and I'm enthralled. I've made their Vichysoisse, and been quite happy.

The food was the kind of old fashioned stodge that appeals to public school types . Hardly anybody eats like that today. You would turn into a blimp.

They were so hideous and sickly looking I couldn’t look at them without feeling uncomfortable but my mom thought they were funny.

R72 Your mom liked them? Was she a great big fat person?

She had good taste, R73.

I HATED those two cunts. They were homophobic AF. May they continue to rot.

The Punchy Players included these delightful ogresses in a compilation (at 3:05).

The best part was that they both experienced - um - "at times challenging" personal situations and didn't quite like each other.

Loved them both. Great show. I have their show cookbook, which is very good.

Perfect

Tow fat ladies are itchin to get into your kitchen!

A post upthread said that they were homophobic! Any details on this?

On the weekends, they would drive aroundon their motor cycle an beat up poofs.

I thought they were lesbians? Although some lesbians dislike gay men.

Jamie Gumb, my mom wasn’t fat, no.

She viewed these two the way you would a particularly amusing circus act.

I loved them and still do.

I bought several English specialties because of them, and they were hit and miss. Didn't care for pickled walnuts, but I'm still a big fan of The Gentleman's Relish, which you can purchase on-line.

How fat were they?

Roll ‘em in the flour and find the wet spot!