Back in Time for the Weekend: 1950s

Historical cooking show. One British family embark on an extraordinary time-travelling adventure to discover how a postwar revolution in eating habits has transformed the British lifestyle. In this first episode, they travel back to 1950 - so it's goodbye open-plan living, hello formal dining room and basic kitchen. Guided by presenter Giles Coren, food historian Polly Russell and the National Food Survey (a 50-year collection of food diaries), the family can only consume the food of the period - cue a diet of dried eggs, national bread, dripping and liver. And taking on the roles of the period, mum is doing all the cooking, while dad relaxes with a pipe and slippers. The family mood is lightened by the end of rationing in 1954, heralding the consumer boom of the late 50s - Mary Berry sells them an electric oven on hire purchase (a job she actually used to do in the 1950s!) and mum discovers that, with all the new food, fads and gadgets on offer, cooking gets a lot more complicated.