Sign language

BBC Two

Knowledge, drama, comedy and the arts for a broad adult audience.

BBC Two is a lively channel of depth and substance, carrying a range of knowledge-building programming complemented by great drama, comedy and arts.

BBC Two Northern Ireland

Britain's Fat Fight with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Documentaries

Factual: Food & Drink

Factual: Health & Wellbeing

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall attempts to confront the obesity crisis in Britain.

With Britain becoming the most obese country in western Europe, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is on a mission, asking food producers, restaurants and the government to confront the crisis.

Series 1

The BBC West region started on 1st September 1957 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One West.

BBC One West

The BBC South West region started on 20th April 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South West.

BBC One South West

The BBC South region started on 5th January 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South.

BBC One South

BBC One London

London

BBC One West Midlands

BBC One region covering Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

BBC One East Midlands

The BBC East region started on 1st May 1959 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One East.

BBC One East

BBC One North West

The BBC North East & Cumbria region started in 1959 (tbc) as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One North East & Cumbria.

BBC One North East & Cumbria

BBC One Yorkshire

Simulcast of network BBC One in high definition. From 03/11/2010

BBC One HD

BBC One Oxfordshire

Formerly part of a wider BBC One South East region that included London and part of the South region. Separated from BBC One London 2001-09-03 following reorganisation of the South East region.

BBC One South East

BBC One Cambridgeshire

BBC One Channel Islands

BBC One Yorks & Lincs

BBC Northern Ireland region started on 19th April 1955 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One Northern Ireland.

BBC One Northern Ireland

BBC One Wales

Wales

Simulcast of BBC One Northern Ireland in high definition. From 24/10/2012

BBC One Northern Ireland HD

Simulcast of BBC One Wales in high definition. From 29/01/2013

BBC One Wales HD

BBC One Scotland

Scotland

Simulcast of BBC One Scotland in high definition. From 14/01/2013

BBC One Scotland HD

BBC Two Scotland

Until 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales (analogue) was known simply as BBC Two Wales. BBC Two Wales (digital) was BBC 2W. From 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales schedules on both analogue and digital became identical

BBC Two Wales

BBC Two England

England

Simulcast of network BBC Two in high definition.

BBC Two HD

Britain's Fat Fight with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall: Series 1

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Helen Simpson

Will Anderson

Kari Lia

KEO West

Britain's Fat Fight with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall: Series 1: Episode 2

britains-fat-fight-with-hugh-fearnley-whittingstall_020518_s01e02_pp.jpg

Episode 2

BBC One - Britain's Fat Fight with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Series 1, Episode 2

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall turns the spotlight on popular high street restaurant chains.

Documentary series. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall turns the spotlight on our most popular high street restaurant chains.

Britain is already the fattest country in western Europe and if current trends continue, more than half of us will be obese by 2050. Two-thirds of us are already overweight and there is no doubt that our poor diet and lack of exercise is slowly killing us - as well as crippling the NHS. After smoking, obesity is the next biggest cause of premature death in the UK.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is on a mission to try and do something about this health crisis. He is going to challenge some of the biggest food companies and restaurant chains to be more honest about what they are selling. He asks the government what they are doing to tackle this crisis. And he is going to see if it is possible to change the eating habits of a whole city by challenging the people of Newcastle to lose 100,000lbs in a year.

Hugh is surprised to learn bottles of fruit juice and smoothies can contain as much sugar as a can of fizzy pop. Most people he meets in the street have no idea. He is also confused that the labels on the bottles seem to suggest that anything up to 330ml is a single portion size, when in fact the government recommends not drinking any more than 150ml of juice or smoothies a day. Hugh also turns the spotlight on our most popular high street restaurant chains, because children are eating out twice as much as they did in the 1970s. He challenges the restaurants to reduce the amount of sugar in their puddings, to put calorie information on their children's menus and to stop selling bottomless fizzy drinks. When he lets them know there is a window of opportunity to do something before a league table is published, ranking 25 restaurant chains from best to worst, ten make very significant changes. Between them they are now selling 72 million healthier children's meals a year.

Meanwhile up in Newcastle, it is six months since Hugh launched his attempt to change the eating habits of a whole city. It has got off to a slow start but after staging a big exercise event on the High Street and with Ross Noble's help on social media, it soon starts to take off. In Newcastle, bus driver Jonny is given some shocking news when he is diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. This inspires Jonny to make big changes to his lifestyle, which culminates with him running the Great North Run 5k with Hugh and a big group of other members of Newcastle Can.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Britain's Fat Fight with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

Series 1

Episode 2

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Brand

Series

BBC Two Northern Ireland

About BBC Two