Clodagh McKenna says Harry Herbert is the real star of Clodagh: Cooking at Home after his first on-screen appearance. The chef and presenter says the new show gives viewers a look at their home life at Broadspear Farm in the UK, where family, work and the farm sit inside the same frame.
“Everybody is going to fall in love with him because he is the real star of the show, not me,” McKenna said of Herbert. She added: “This was his first time, and he was just brilliant - everybody in the production was just so incredibly impressed.”
Harry Herbert in first shot
Herbert appears on camera for the first time in Clodagh: Cooking at Home, and McKenna said he was a natural on screen. That turns the show from a simple home-cooking setup into a family project with a visible first-time performer at its centre.
Lots of her Irish family are in the show, as are her stepchildren, and McKenna said she was happy to share them all in it. The farm setting matters because the series is not just about cooking; it also shows how they host pals and keep bees and pigs at Broadspear Farm in the UK.
Broadspear Farm routines
McKenna said the couple try to protect their time together with a strict end to the day. “We always try and have weekends off, which sometimes can be a little bit hard with my work, and we also finish up work at 6 o'clock,” she said. She added: “I rarely work into the evenings; it’s quite busy at the moment, and I have to, but usually on a normal basis we finish at 6, and then you're fresh then for the next day.”
That schedule gives the show a clear practical hook: the food is built around a house that stops, resets and starts again. McKenna said, “He loves it when I roast a chicken,” and laid out the rhythm behind it: roast chicken on a Saturday, slow-cooked chicken broth the next day, chicken salad for Sunday lunch and her “cuddle me chicken soup” on Sunday night.
McKenna also said her honey and chilli salmon noodle broccoli dish takes 20 minutes to cook, which explains how the weekday menu fits the 6 o'clock finish. The cleanest read on the show is that Herbert’s first turn in front of the camera gives the series its sharpest pull, because the home life is not a backdrop here; it is the point.
Clodagh and Harry’s next move
After the London home renovation project was completed, McKenna and Herbert began planning a holiday. For viewers, the practical question is simple: when Clodagh: Cooking at Home is released, Herbert’s first appearance and the couple’s home routine are the parts most likely to make the series worth the watch.
