Gordon Ramsay explores new territory meeting Brits abroad in crisis. In the aftermath of a crippling recession, countless Brits find themselves trapped in a living hell and facing financial ruin.
EPISODE 1
Laterna
The venue is La Lanterna in Letchworth, Hertfordshire. Twenty-eight-year-old owner and head chef Alex offers modern Italian cuisine, a taste of Little Italy in England's first garden city, and the restaurant is run by his best mate maitre d' Gavin, helped by his ex-air hostess girlfriend Emily. But Alex has no customers, cookers that don't work and an expensive menu that's about as authentically Italian as a spag bol. He re-mortgaged his house to buy the business, it's losing £1,000 a week, he hasn't slept for months but still runs round town in a flash car that's worth more than the restaurant. Running out of money, inspiration and energy, Alex is on the verge of losing everything. Gordon rolls up his sleeves and sets to work on the encrusted kitchen cookers and hapless front-of-house staff. Can a strict diet of brutal honesty, radical food surgery and undiluted energy turn things round, or is it only a matter of time before the lights go out at La Lanterna for good?
EPISODE 2
D-Place
The venue for the second programme is D-Place in Chelmsford, Essex run by Mexican-born Israel and his English partner Tara. They've sunk £150,000 of their own money into their trendy cafe bar which offers a vast selection of fusion cuisine. In charge is Executive Chef Philippe, producing everything from all-day breakfasts to hoi sin noodles with an astounding lack of flair; the plastic food is dire and boomerangs back from the dining room as soon as it's cooked. Restaurant manager, spunky Essex boy Dave, loathes his chef, and their mutual hatred spills over into permanent running battles. Faced with dysfunctional staff and a disastrous menu, Gordon is about to face the longest week of his professional life. Can he quell the panic, banish the deep fat fryer and bring D-Place back from the dead, or will it disappear forever?
EPISODE 3
Momma Cherri's
The venue for this edition is Momma Cherri's Soul Food Shack, an intimate 40-seater a stone's throw from Brighton's sea front. Owner Charita Jones, produces a menu of irresistibly unique classics from the Deep South.
EPISODE 4
La Riviera
The venue for the fourth programme is La Riviera, a fine dining restaurant in Inverness. Owned by multi-millionaire Barry Larson and costing £8,000 a week to run, the place boasts top French chef Loic Lefebvre and an impeccably-trained kitchen staff with Michelin star-studded backgrounds. Loic is on a mission to bring sophisticated French cooking to the home of haggis, tatties and deep-fried Mars bars.
EPISODE 5
The Glass House Revisited
Gordon revisits the Glass House Restaurant in Ambleside. When he first went there it was in meltdown. Saturday nights were a disaster, orders in the kitchen were going AWOL, the food wasn't cooked properly and the customers were complaining. Not only was the chef in tears, but the owner was so deep in debt that he'd switched his mobile phone off.
EPISODE 6
The Walnut Tree Revisited
Gordon revisits the Walnut Tree Inn. In 2004, it was in big trouble, with no head chef and dwindling customers, and the owner had been forced to sell the family home to keep the place afloat.
Gordon Ramsay
J.V. Martin
Jay Hunter
