Review: Mr Drayton’s Christmas Dinner Date – Newcastle Stand

Mr Drayton’s Dinner Date, The Stand’s culinary-based panel show, concluded its run in appetising form.

Host Mr Drayton invited panellists Joe Heenan and Tiff Stevenson to discuss their ideal dinner guests from the living, the dead, and the fictional.

For the uninitiated – and remember that previous episodes are available to watch here on Giggle Beats – the show’s USP is that the live audience has the option to eat a four-course meal alongside the panellists, from a menu specially prepared by head chef Andy Drape.

The food was, as normal, delicious; I treated myself to paying an extra fiver for the beef, though I understand, from my own dinner dates, that the (cheaper) vegetarian option was gorgeous.

Stevenson and Heenan selected some entertaining guests, including Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks and Alfred Hitchcock.

Actually, I had to bite my tongue several times when Heenan discussed Hitchcock. I was tempted to shout out the answers to the trivia questions, but, having been on a couple of BBC Tours in groups where someone feels the need to proudly answer the guide’s questions… well, you don’t want to be that guy.

More fundamentally, though, I wanted to ask Heenan if he actually thought that Hitch would be a great dinner date. Of course, Heenan was absolutely correct in everything he said about the director’s genius, and that he won’t be short of an anecdote or 300, but given what I’ve read (Evan Hunter’s book Me and Hitch is particularly revelatory) Sir Alfred might be the sort of dinner guest who would happily leave you feeling shit about yourself.

Interactivity is sprinkled throughout the show so that the live audience feels a part of the action, through voting on the preferred choice of the panellist’s fantasy dinner dates, and a chance to write down our own dinner date; the funniest of which wins a three-course meal at The Stand. The Christmas decorations and crackers were a nice touch, and a further indication of the high production values that has gone into this show, courtesy of ex-Viz editor Alex Collier.

Although this was the last of the current run of Dinner Dates, Mr Drayton hinted that the show may make a reappearance in the new year with a charity special starring some Stand regulars.

Dinner Date is a refreshingly unique concept, and it’s been a nice few months watching the show while tucking in to The Stand’s acclaimed food.

Date of live review: Saturday 14 December 2013