The Supersizers...

The Supersizers Go... and The Supersizers Eat... (2008-2009) was a pair of BBC television series usually referred to together by the umbrella title The Supersizers... Every week, comedienne Sue Perkins and food critic Giles Coren got a complete physical checkup, chose a period in British history, put on period costumes, rented a period house/manor/villa to live in, then proceeded to eat (and booze) their way through every single popular dish from that time period, all followed by a doctor follow-up to assess the damage done after a week of gluttony.

Much better than it sounds. Giles provides the knowledgeable tidbits and Sue provides the snarky running commentary. Not to mention that they engage in the cutest (and most sarcastic) UST in the history of documentary filmmaking. And the food is all authentic and heavily researched, which means they tend to alternate between looking wonderful and looking worthy of Fear Factor.

Periods covered included: The Restoration, Victorian London, The Seventies, The Regency, The Fifties, The Eighties Ancient Rome, The French Revolution, World War II...

"Sue: Last night, I dreamt that Lord Sebastian Coe took me to the Olympic Games site in East London to show me around the new stadiums. Whereupon he dug a hole in the ground, threw me in, and put a pastry lid on top."
 * The Alcoholic: Historically enforced mild alcoholism, as for most of European history, water is too contaminated to drink. Its debatable whether Giles and Sue were completely sober for any part of the show.
 * Bifauxnen: During the Elizabethan episode, Giles and Sue go for a night on the town. As an Elizabethan lady couldn't be seen frequenting public houses and the like, Sue, in the tradition of many a Shakespeare comedy, is forced to adopt male drag. With delightful results.
 * Big Eater: The aristocrats from centuries past, some of them would regularly sit down and eat 5000 Calories per meal (the daily recommended intake is 2500 Cal per day). The favoured breakfast of George IV is a pie that has a steak, an egg, and an entire pigeon (among other things) baked in and all washed down with a bottle of champagne and laudanum.
 * Bottle Fairy: Sue, after drinking the historically accurate (read: 10+ pints) amount of alcohol per day.
 * Possibly just Sue in general, if some of her News Quiz anecdotes (including lapsing into a brief, Special Brew-induced coma during a theatrical showing of The Silence of the Lambs) are anything to go by.
 * Food Porn: Intentionally done, as cooking for an old-style aristocrat is primarily a method of showing off your wealth and power. Oneupsmanship among cooks can be fierce.
 * Literally done in the Roman episode, where a common dinner entertainment is having a pretty slave parade around the dining room with some really exotic piece of cookery, which would then be thrown away untouched.
 * Foreign Queasine: Not so much foreign in the geographical sense as the chronological, but it still applies. Pickled testicles and rotten fish juice anyone?
 * Costume Porn: Thanks to the BBC costumes department.
 * If It's You It's Okay: Sue is a lesbian, but doesn't seem to mind rolling around on the floor with Giles. Admittedly, they're usually both staggeringly drunk.
 * It's sometimes hard to tell whether they remind one more of an old married couple or a brother and sister who occasionally get drunk and fuck each other.
 * Mushroom Samba: After taking a bath in wine and wormwood.


 * Must Have Caffeine: For the Elizabethan episode, the hosts can have all the alcohol they want, but no tea or coffee (they haven't been discovered by Europeans yet), Sue was horrified.
 * Running Gag: Giles does all of his vlog segments with a weird hat and a cup of alcohol.