Lovers of French patisserie and deliciously dark period dramas rejoice, for Carême is promising to be the series of the summer. The Apple TV+ series starring Benjamin Voisin will chart the impressive rise and era-defining fame of Marie-Antoine Carême, known as Antonin. The first cook (allegedly) to become rich and famous writing and publishing cookbooks, Carême made himself synonymous with the largesse of the First Empire as the chef de cuisine to the royal houses of Europe. He rose from humble beginnings to culinary stardom in a heady and volatile, post-French revolution Europe.
For those partial to a bit of War and Peace – or any sweeping European historical epic brimming with royalty, rolling vistas flecked with follies, and the softly pornographic image of a tousle-haired, free-spirited youth, (ahem - Leo in Titanic, Lady Chatterley’s’ Lover…the list goes on) - then cancel your bank holiday plans and settle in.