A few thoughts about Episode 1

Hello friends!

I can’t believe that the time has finally arrived when people can sit on their couches and tune in to ‘Bitten’!

Episode 1 is particularly special to me, for obvious reasons of course, in that it’s the first one of the series, it introduces me and my little family of Rob and Sophie, and it introduces you all to my kitchen (and the prettiest SMEG fridge that you ever did see). But also, Episode 1 is special because it celebrates an iconic South African meal in the form of, among other things, (poshed-up) Bunny Chows, and special times with friends and family around full and happy tables.

What you won’t be able to tell from your couch is that…

It was the actually the third episode that we filmed, as we didn’t film them all in numerical order, and it was only the second one where we hosted any friends on set. And with that came much happy chaos behind-the-scenes, and a few hearty hellos made awkward by having to be done two, three or even four times. In some cases, usually gregarious characters (Bijou Rowlands) turned to knee-wobbling when they saw the cameras, and in others, they came alive (Mel), it was fascinating to see.

Is that as with all the other episodes, it took two days to film, That means that everything you see had to be exactly the same for two days in a row – my hair, make-up, clothes, the kitchen and everything in it. We’d take ‘continuity photos’ to make sure we got it all exactly right.

Also, the gorgeous Roasted Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup with Harissa had to be cooked twice, because the first lot of potatoes got a little too golden brown while we were filming something else, and that the chickpea salad was made at about 10pm on a Saturday night, our 7th straight day of shooting.

We filmed 6 days a week for 5 weeks to bring this to your screens, so we hope you like it! Let me know what you think via Twitter or Facebook.

For a few more ‘what you can’t tell from your couch’ stories and more behind-the-scenes snapshots, check out my behind-the-scenes posts.

See you next week!

Sarah x