The Supersizers Go...

Episode 1

The Eighties

Giles Coren and Sue Perkins embrace all that is the Eighties as they spend a week in a warehouse conversion on the Thames immersed in a soundtrack of Duran Duran, ABC, Visage and Spandau Ballet. There's yuppie decadence in spades for the Supersizers as Giles parades around the City trading stocks and shares, and Sue power dresses her way through life as a Sloane Ranger. Throughout the week, they sample the delights of nouvelle cuisine and are introduced to the joys of sundried tomatoes, ciabatta and prawns, care of Michelin-starred chef Marcus Wareing. The Supersizers drown in a sea of champagne and ingest copious amounts of coffee from the newly launched Prêt A Manger. In a quest to become a Tory MP, Giles lunches with Norman Tebbit and Jeffrey Archer on the latter's iconic shepherd's pie and feasts on Margaret Thatcher's dessert of choice, banoffee pie. Meanwhile, Sue samples Lady Diana Spencer and Prince Charles's sumptuous wedding breakfast and tries out Jane Fonda's infamous workout video. Eighties decadence soon takes its toll and the Supersizers find themselves reliving the Black Monday crash and the Miner's Strike. As unemployment levels rise, Giles and Sue are faced with an economy breakfast of instant coffee and Pop Tarts and meals of pan haggerty and Pot Noodle, as they while away the hours with board games and ice skating. At the end of a week of excess, Giles and Sue throw a dinner party and enjoy one final foodie meal in the company of Ken Livingstone, Lynne Franks, Carol Decker and Toby Young, before Giles discovers exactly how a week of overindulgence has affected his heart.