tv & radio: Sweet 'n' sour.

Byline: by Roz Laws

IF you thought Gordon Ramsay was an intimidating figure in the kitchen, wait until you meet Marco Pierre White.

The grumpy chef appears never to smile. And while he criticises his former friend Gordon for swearing so much, Marco is also famous for his hot temper.

So you have to feel a bit sorry for the celebrities who have signed up for the third series of ITV1's Hell's Kitchen.

Screened live every night for two weeks from Monday, and presented by Angus Deayton, Marco will be scaring 10 stars into submission as he teaches them to cook.

The first series of Hell's Kitchen was headed by Gordon Ramsay and featured the likes of James Dreyfus and winner Jennifer Ellison.

The second had members of the public competing under Gary Rhodes and Jean Christophe Novelli.

Now comes Marco, with the rather chilling vow: "I want to see tears."

Marco hasn't been in a kitchen for eight years, since he retired from cooking - supposedly to spend time with his family, though his wife Mati, mother of his three children, has asked for a divorce.

He's the first British chef to achieve three Michelin stars before handing them back. He sounds French or Italian but he was born in Leeds 45 years ago.

His introduction to cooking came at the age of six when his mother died.

"I was always required to help my father in the kitchen," he remembers.

"In the late Sixties and early Seventies tinned food was very much a middleclass luxury. We never, for instance, had Heinz Baked Beans. My father would get haricot beans, soak them overnight, drain them and fry them in bacon fat for breakfast."

So what will he be like with the celebrities on Hell's Kitchen?

"I might be the hardest person they'll have ever met," he says, menacingly. "But I've got a heart just as big. It's about picking people up off the floor and inspiring them to carry on.

"The minute they walk into the kitchen, they are not a celebrity. I am not there to be their friend. The number one rule is that I am the boss and what I say goes.

"I will have my own table in the kitchen. If anyone starts to talk or drift, they will have to work next to me. It'll be a bit like when I was at school and the naughty boys had to sit at the headmaster's table at lunchtime."

Meanwhile, if you prefer your culinary viewing experience to be a little more relaxed and pretty, tune in to Nigella Express (BBC2, Monday).

Catherine Zeta Jones is currently playing a chef on the big screen, but there's no-one sexier than Nigella Lawson in the kitchen. The way she coyly licks her fingers gets plenty of male viewers hot under the collar.

The good news is she's back for a new 13-part series, offering fabulous food fast, with shortcuts and time-saving ideas for busy cooks.

In this week's opener, she cooks roast poussin with sweet potatoes and sugar snap pea and watercress salad with wasabi dressing.

For a quick supper she relies on an old favourite - crispy squid with garlic mayo - then there's mustard pork chops with gnocchi and the treat of caramel croissant pudding.

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BEAUTY AND THE BEAST: Nigella Lawson and Marco Pierre White hit our screens