james martin turned his Hampshire home into the backdrop for James Martin's Saturday Morning, and Ralf Little and Will Mellor came away talking as much about the setup as the food. On the ITV show, they found a production space that looked closer to a live tour than a kitchen broadcast.
Ralf Little and Will Mellor
Ralf Little said Martin takes guests on a tour and that the setup is like a rock concert, with the host coming out “wailing on the guitar” and a bigger stage than they expected. He also pointed to a poster reading “26 shows, 26 standing ovations, 26,000 more ticket sales than Paul Hollywood”, a line that puts Martin’s live draw into numbers rather than hype.
Will Mellor added the first practical detail viewers do not get from the broadcast alone: Martin showed them around and is a collector. He said Martin bought a Ferrari for £500,000 and that it is now worth 16 or 17 million, after asking whether he was alright to tell people about the purchase. That makes the home setup feel less like set dressing and more like part of Martin’s public business.
Hampshire home setup
The detail that matters is not just that the show comes from Hampshire. It is that the programme uses Martin’s own home as the base for a performance-style format, complete with a stage, music and collections on display. For viewers, that changes the reading of the show: this is not a sealed studio operation, but a production built around a private space that Martin appears willing to open up on camera.
Ralf Little said Martin did not seem to be showing off when he walked them through his possessions. He described the experience as “really sound” and said Martin told them, “If you're interested, you can have a look,” which makes the tour sound informal rather than staged for effect. That kind of access gives the programme a different texture from a standard daytime TV cooking slot.
Saturday, July 25
James Martin's Saturday Morning was scheduled to appear on ITV again at 9.30am on Saturday, July 25. For anyone following the show, the live question is less about the menu and more about how much of this home-based operation Martin is prepared to let viewers keep seeing — the stage, the guitar, the cars and the rest of the collection all point to a format built around reveal as much as recipe.
