The TV chef made an impassioned appeal to viewers tuning in to his Saturday morning cooking show
Samantha King Content Editor
10:27, 28 Mar 2026
James Martin was back fronting another edition of Saturday Morning on ITV(Image: ITV)
James Martin had an important plea for viewers of his ITV cooking show just moments into the latest episode which aired this morning (March 28).
The TV chef welcomed guests including First Dates barman Merlin Griffiths, double Olympic gold medal winner James Cracknell, and chefs Meliz Berg and John Hooker to the James Martin’s Saturday Morning set today.
He kicked off the show with “a simple little dish” made using lamb shanks that he used to rustle up when he first moved to London. The Lamb Shank Tagine featured slow-cooked lamb with saffron, ras el hanout, apricots, preserved lemon and fresh herbs.
However, before he plated up the meal which had been cooking for 12 hours overnight, he made an urgent request to fans watching on at home.
James had an important message for viewers at home(Image: ITV)
“Before I serve, this I just want to reiterate… I’m not going to upset the people of New Zealand… but please, please as a nation can we just buy stuff from this country,” he started.
“We’ve got amazing produce in this country. Buy British, because this stuff is just the best in the world. It’s the prime season right now, and let’s face it, the farmers need all the help they can get.”
He went on to highlight the struggles farmers are facing behind the scenes, growing increasingly passionate. He continued: “One of the magical things if you ever go to the Lake District – you see all the dry stone walls, everything else – that takes an awful lot of work for these farmers to make the dry stone walls to protect the sheep and everything else.
He grew increasingly passionate as he urged viewers to buy British (Image: ITV)
“And when you think about what they get for the end product, it’s such little money for the amount of work that they put into it, so the very least we can do is buy it from this country.”
He then went on to plate up the meal which he described as a “pot of pleasure” suggesting to elevate it even further cooks could add almonds and pistachio nuts.
Before moving on, he once again reiterated his plea for people to buy local lamb, adding: “It’s one of the true, true delights and one of the most amazing produce we have in this country and when it’s in season like this, just buy it.”
James Martin’s Saturday Morning airs every Saturday at 9.30am on ITV1 and ITVX.
