Four pub chefs competing in BBC's Great British Menu

BBC’s Great British Menu is now underway, with four pub chefs among the 24 culinary experts vying for the top prize.

James Durrant, owner of the Plough Inn, in Longparish, Hampshire, is competing in the north-west heat, which is airing at 7.30pm on BBC2 every day this week until Friday (April 18).

With 18 years’ experience as a chef, Durrant has worked with Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, in Mayfair, London, and is a former head chef at Maze – also in Mayfair – where he won a Michelin star in his first year. He took on the Plough in 2012.

The other three pub chefs all feature in the south-west heat, with one guaranteed to make the grand final.

Emily Watkins, co-owner of the Kingham Plough in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire; Dominic Chapman, executive chef of the Royal Oak at Paley Street, in Berkshire; and Josh Eggleton, at the Pony and Trap, in Chew Magna, Bristol, face-off in the south-west heat.

The heat will air on BBC2 at 7.30pm each night from Monday to Friday next week (April 21-25).

Tom Kerridge has returned as a judge for the fourth consecutive year. Kerridge, who owns the two-Michelin-starred Hand & Flowers in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, appeared on the show in 2009 and 2010, supplying main courses to the final banquet on both occasions.

On the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings, the brief for this year’s series is to create dishes that evoke the spirit of the wartime generation. The winning dishes will be served at a banquet to be held at St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

The chefs will cook their best dish from the show at a series of £100-a-head Great British Menu dinners, hosted at their respective pubs.