Norman the Knight enters the café for a meal and Ben makes him a Pizza Shield. Unfortunately he gets afraid that the apples will fall down from the trees and hit him on the head. In return she leaves a fairy wand and amazingly Ben's flowers are rearranged into a perfect display.īen has been in the garden trying to pick some apples. A flower fairy visits their café and they make her some Flutterby cakes. But, a princess visits the café for a meal and they cook her princess pie in return, she leaves them a present of some duvets and mattresses for Ben's guests.īen is trying to arrange some flowers for the local summer fare but is not having much luck, especially when Small steals his string to start skipping.
Original series (2004-06) Seriesīen's family decide to come and stay and Ben is worried he does not have enough beds for them all to sleep. The series was originally planned to be produced by the BBC in-house. Production on the series was first announced in 2003. The revival series follows the same pattern however, Big Cook collecting the ingredients is omitted and there is always one ingredient missing
Some of the aerial shots of Little Cook flying were filmed over the town of Skipton, North Yorkshire.
Where do we look for things to cook?" Big Cook does most of the actual cooking and telling the viewers how to make the recipes while Little Cook does some preparation or sets the timer.
The cooks rhyme a lot, like "We need a story to help us cook. In return for cooking a meal for the visitor, they receive a gift that would solve their problem.Īctivities within the kitchen, such as washing and tidying up, are accompanied by a catchy song and dance routines.īoth cooks act in an expansive and overblown style, but the show seems intended to encourage children to take an interest in cooking. After finishing the meal and serving it to the customer, they then sing a song about cleaning up the kitchen. During preparation, Ben would remind the viewers to always ask their "grown-up helper" when it came to using knives, allergy information, and using the electrical appliances. Once Small gets the ingredient or tells Ben how an ingredient is made, the two proceed to sing a song, remind the viewers of what is required for the recipe, and begin to cook. If an ingredient is missing or if one of the two want to know how an ingredient is made, Small will then fly away on his magic spoon-mobile to see where one of the ingredients is made, such as a chutney factory or a rice field. Next, they decide to cook the customer a meal from Ben's recipe book, and then collect the ingredients from either the fridge, freezer, cupboard, fruitbowl & vegetable basket (added in series 3). Each episode would begin with Big Cook Ben and Little Cook Small doing an activity or encountering a problem, and then a customer would arrive by the door of their café with Small giving the viewers and Ben hints about who the customer is.Īfter revealing the customer, Small then tells a short story about the visitor and ends his stories proclaiming to be the real hero. The format of the programme generally includes a visit to the café by a nursery rhyme, fairy tale, or fictional character (such as Little Miss Muffet or Humpty Dumpty). The show made a comeback with a revival series in 2022, now presented by Ibinabo Jack as Big Cook Jen and Courtney Bowman as Little Cook Small. Trailers for the programme on the BBC spoofed the food adverts of Marks & Spencer, which featured the voice of Dervla Kirwan.Īn official magazine was launched in August 2005. In 2005, the duo featured in commercials for Betfair, the Channel 4's official sponsor, during The Ashes cricket series, being shown as two part advertisements at the beginning and end of each break. Ben and the original Small were played by Steve Marsh and Dan Wright, respectively.
īen/Jen are both full sized adult/s, but Small is only a few inches tall and flies around on a wooden spoon. CBeebies aired repeats on the channel until 2012. The programme is set in the kitchen of a café, with two chef characters Big Cook Ben/Jen and Little Cook Small. Big Cook, Little Cook is a British children's television series created by Adrian Hedley for BBC television.