I can confirm, after close consultation with the socio-culinary anthropologist I keep around the place for these purposes (AKA my dad), that lasagne came to our corner of south-east London in the mid-80s. The sheets of dried pasta (“Sheets! Of dried pasta!”) were sourced from one of the two Italian delis in central London. Garlic bread was not attempted.
So I watched the eponymous residents of Jessop Square in last night’s new sitcom The Kennedys (BBC1), around whose assemblage of said dish in the late 70s the opening episode was built, with something approaching awe. The better part of a decade ahead of us, Brenda (played by Katherine Parkinson) put her faith in husband Tony’s (Dan Skinner) cooking skills. The new thing was mostly mince, she pointed out. “Mince. You know mince. You know it.” They are in Stevenage New Town. Anything seems possible.
Brenda, you see, has her heart set on a dinner party. She’s seen one in a magazine. It involved neighbours and lasagne. While Tony and daughter Emma set off on a non-tinned pasta quest, she starts gathering guests. Jenny (Emma Pierson) next door is crying because she is pregnant by a man who is a fool. His name is Tim (Harry Peacock). He takes Tony and Emma round to a friend whom he reckons might have some pasta, but unfortunately has confused “stocks useful dry goods” with “lets me periodically fill her ravioli”. After catching Tim and friend in flagrante delicto, the Kennedys grab some macaroni and light out for home.
Meanwhile, Brenda has changed into A Seventies Frock and got the Palmers round. They’ve brought “Wine! From Germany!” and a cheese-and-pineapple-studded hedgehog. David Palmer (Clive Rowe) works over in Pin Green: “We’ve just got a computer.” “I’ve seen a digital watch,” says Tim. Silence descends. I believe a sitcom stands or falls by the quality of its non sequiturs, and this was a fine one.
There is nothing quite so strange as the recent past. I spent most of the episode marvelling that everything mad in it fell within living memory – my living memory. “Trying to get Mum to understand that eggs weren’t dairy products,” spoke to my soul. The series is written by Emma Kennedy and based on her bestselling memoir The Tent, the Bucket and Me. She knows what she’s doing, and so does the brilliant cast. If it’s not quite in focus yet, that’s quite possibly because I’m not yet. But I’ll be back next week, hopefully to do better.
