Chef! is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 situation comedy

Situation comedy

A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

 starring Lenny Henry

Lenny Henry

Lenworth George "Lenny" Henry, is a British actor, writer, comedian and occasional television presenter.- Early life :...

 that aired as twenty episodes over three series from 1993 to 1996 on the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

. The show was created and primarily written by Peter Tilbury

Peter Tilbury

Peter Tilbury born 20 October 1945 in Redruth, Cornwall in England is a British actor and writer.As an actor Tilbury's television appearances include Dixon of Dock Green , It Takes a Worried Man , Miss Marple , Fortunes of War Casualty , The Bill , Birds of a Feather , and Chef! .As a television...

 based on an idea from Lenny Henry and produced for the BBC by Henry's production company, Crucial Films.
Henry starred as Gareth Blackstock, a talented, arrogant, tyrannical and obsessed chef

Chef

A chef is a person who cooks professionally for other people. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who cooks for a living, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation.-Etymology:The word "chef" is borrowed ...

 who has endlessly inventive insults for his staff, unknowing customers, and almost anyone else he encounters.