Boiling Point: Bradford's Vinette Robinson and Stephen Graham on the 'next level' BBC restaurant drama

Andy, played by Graham, is a hot-headed, volatile chef who suffered a heart attack in the film’s final scene after revealing a cocaine and alcohol addiction. The credits rolled as the concerned kitchen staff called out his name, leaving viewers uncertain whether he was to live or die.

The Boiling Point TV series will focus on Carly – played by Bradford-born actress Vinette Robinson – as she tries to find success in her northern England-inspired restaurant, exploring some pertinent social issues while delving into the lives of those who keep it running.

The film’s cliff-hanger ending is also resolved, as Andy’s future is revealed.

“There is a pathway of each character, and we get to see and observe their life,” says Graham of the series’ trajectory.

“This is the microcosm that we’ve created, which is the restaurant itself, which was developed from great drama that I grew up with as a kid – the likes of Boys From The Blackstuff, Clocking Off, and all that kind of stuff. That’s where our ideas came from, right at the very beginning.”

“We wanted to make the best piece possible, because the film stands alone on its own,” he adds.

“And at first, I’ll be dead honest, we were all slightly reticent… we were like ‘Can we touch it? Or can we not?’

“And that’s when we rapped our heads together, and we came up with what I’m so proud of.”

As we glimpsed in the feature film, running a buzzy restaurant is no mean feat.

Being a head chef and restaurateur is more than a full-time job, requiring undivided attention before, during, and long after service hours.

“I spoke to a few chefs, and they were really candid about the responsibilities and the pressures, which was really helpful,” says Robinson, adding that “the personal stuff” was the most useful.

“It’s a very lonely position to be in, I think,” she says of being a chef.

“People’s livelihoods are on the line. You know, we see (new character) Johnny with two children, and having the knowledge that, if you’re not successful at what you do, those people suffer. I think that’s an immense pressure and responsibility.”

Of course, chefs are normal people too, with their own personal troubles and responsibilities and commitments beyond the kitchen, which we see Carly grapple with in Boiling Point’s first episode.

“The window into her home life hopefully shows you why she throws herself so forcefully into the kitchen,” Robinson says.

“There is something she’s not dealing with, and there is something she is avoiding, and I think that sort of obsession, or singularity of purpose… one of the themes of the show is addiction, and Carly’s addiction is work.

“She’s trying to model herself in opposition to Andy; she doesn’t want to be the angry kind of volatile chef.

“But is she any different, really? It just comes out in a different way.”

The question on the lips of many Boiling Point fans when the series was announced was: what happened to Andy?

He is alive, but when we meet him in episode one, he’s worse for wear: a gnarly scar on his chest, an unkempt flat and a penchant for off-licence lager.

It’s oh-so-lovely Emily, played by Graham’s real-life wife Hannah Walters, who’s taken on the responsibility of checking in on him and bringing him doggy bags from the restaurant at the end of the night – not that he’s particularly receptive to her caregiving.

“I think on a personal level, for me, for Emily, it was just nice, because, from the film, I had such a lovely reaction from that very small moment that Emily had in the back kitchen with Jamie, from many, many people that watched it,” says Walters, referring to the moment a young pastry chef working alongside Emily is revealed to be self-harming.

“So to get to take that essence that people saw in the film and be able to run free with that, with Emily, was joyful.”

The 2021 film, directed by Philip Barantini, was a particularly gripping watch thanks to its one-shot cinematography.

In one uninterrupted, beautifully choreographed take, viewers are transported into the tension of the kitchen as the events play out in real time.

For the TV series, however, Barantini has opted for a more traditional filming approach – though not without creative camerawork to set the tone of the various settings.

“Initially, when we first got approached by the BBC, there was talk about, you know, would you do the series as one-takes? And I said ‘Absolutely not!’,” says Barantini, who directs the first two episodes and also serves as executive producer, with Mounia Akl directing the latter half of the series.

“It just has to keep the integrity of the film and try and match it,” he continues.

“We sort of gave ourselves a rule where, whenever we’re in the kitchen, it’s hand-held, and whenever we’re in the restaurant, it’s steady.

“We wanted it to look like a film and have that sort of feel to it as well. Like four independent films.”

– Boiling Point starts on BBC One at 9pm on Sunday, October 1.