Clarissa Dickson Wright : ‘Two Fat Ladies’ Star Dead

Clarissa Dickson Wright, one of the chefs on the BBC’s Two Fat Ladies, died Saturday in Edinburgh, Scotland, BBC News reports. She was 66. A cause of death was not disclosed.

A former barrister and reformed alcoholic, Wright became a professional cook and was running Books for Cooks, a bookstore specializing in cookbooks in London’s Notting Hill neighborhood, when she was paired with Paterson by a BBC producer for the TV show in 1996. In the prosaically-named Two Fat Ladies series, which ran for four seasons until Paterson’s death in 1999 from cancer, the two women would motor through the U.K., making stops along the way to whip up artery-busting gourmet meals.

Championing the use of lard in one program, Wright said, “Just in case you think it’s unhealthy, don’t be put off by that.” She and Paterson also regularly discussed on air the importance of keeping, ahem, regular and foods that led to flatulence.

The show became a hit in the U.K. and was quickly picked up by the then fledgling Food Network channel in the U.S., turning the middle-aged Wright and Paterson into unlikely stars on both sides of the Atlantic.

Agencies/Canadajournal