When Lisa Heathcote was growing up, she had a yearning to be on stage. Instead, she learned to cook and eventually did find her way into the Thespian world – behind the scenes. She’s worked on innumerable productions including Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife, Bridget Jones, Mamma Mia! and Les Mis, among many more. With a mix of challenges like that, there’s little she doesn’t know about cooking for the camera. Here’s a snapshot of one of the most enviable jobs in food.
1 A CALM TEMPERAMENT IS ESSENTIAL
You have to be creative, flexible, unflappable, full of energy and very patient. Things change up to the 11th hour: you do a lot of work and then the production team might say, “We aren’t going to do it that way after all.” And of course you have to know about food, how it behaves in the kitchen as well as on-screen, and to be able to cook large quantities at speed.