If you can't stand the heat....

The F Word, showing May 13th on Channel 4 at 9:00pm

It's difficult to know exactly what this fourth series of The F Word will be like because preview discs have been thin on the ground. However what is for certain is that chef Gordon Ramsay is likely to be as abrasive as ever, and the focus in this latest run of 12 episodes is on celebrities, their friends and their families, who will be staffing his kitchen.

So in tonight's opener you've got Coronation Street star Wendi Peters (she plays Cilla Battersby-Brown), plus singer Geri Halliwell (pictured) and Gavin and Stacey's James Corden (who co-wrote the comedy and plays Smithy). Oh, and Janet Street-Porter is also back as Ramsay's sidekick.

The following preview is courtesy of C4:

The irrepressible Gordon Ramsay returns for a new 12-part series of television's most entertaining food magazine. As ever, the action takes place against the backdrop of a working kitchen staffed by Gordon and his kitchen brigade, but this time his staff are made up of celebrities and their friends and families. Each week they prepare a three-course meal for 50 diners, using recipes that everyone can cook at home. But how does Gordon run the restaurant with people more used to room service than preparing their own food?

As well as the new brigade line-up, there are more exciting ingredients introduced to the popular F Word menu: in Teach Gordon Ramsay a Lesson, the chef travels the UK and the world in search of the very best ingredients and most exhilarating food experiences. This year, culinary bruiser Janet Street-Porter takes on the huge challenge of rearing two veal calves. The animals will be eaten in the F Word restaurant at the end of the series in a bid to persuade us to eat more British veal.

And in Gordon Ramsay's Healthy Appetite, the chef attempts to entice couch potatoes off the sofa and into the kitchen by proving that we can all make fantastic healthy home-made meals: delicious food that won't make you fat.

In tonight's opening programme, the first family to face the white heat of the F Word kitchen is Coronation Street's Wendi Peters. Geri Halliwell challenges Gordon to beat her recipe for Spanish meatballs, Bafta Award-winning Gavin and Stacey star James Corden bites off more than he can chew, and Gordon goes in search of the ultimate deep-sea delicacy.

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