Boiling Point (1999)

Boiling Point is a 1999 British television documentary series on British chef Gordon Ramsay produced by Tim Graham and David Nath for London Weekend Television (LWT), and narrated by Jack Davenport. With each segment 30 minutes in length, the five-part series was broadcast 25 February 1999 – 25 March 1999 on Channel 4.

Chef Ramsay is closely followed during eight of the most intense months of his life as he opens his first (and now flagship) restaurant, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, in Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea in September 1998. This establishment would ultimately earn him the highly prestigious (and rare) three Michelin Stars. It also covers his participation in the dinner made at the Palace of Versailles on 11 July 1998 to celebrate the closing of the 1998 World Cup and features young chefs Marcus Wareing and Mark Sargeant at the early stages of their careers, as well as mentor Marco Pierre White.

Boiling Point was the first mass exposure of Ramsay to television audiences, revealing his highly driven, impatient and hot-tempered personality which has become his trademark.

The series was followed-up in 2000 by a six-part LWT miniseries, Beyond Boiling Point, again produced by Graham (this time with Paul Denchfield and Lucy Leveugle) for LWT, which follows Ramsay as he copes with his celebrity status and juggles cooking with the ever increasing demands on his time from beyond the kitchen.