Food News with Christine Rutter

YOU are going to be seeing a lot more of rising restaurant star Paul Heathcote in the near future.

Not content with running some of the most highly-praised eateries in the country, Paul is about to dish out advice on two new TV cookery shows.

Then there's his new venture, providing the catering for diners at Preston North End Football Club. Oh yes, and a book which will be out soon. Paul will be one of the guest chefs on Channel 4's Here's One I Made Earlier, which is back for a second helping from Monday.

And he will be back in July on Channel 5 for a new cookery show called Mixing It, from the same production team as Ready, Steady, Cook but with a different formula.

As if that were not enough, Paul is also in negotiation with the BBC for another cookery-programme based in the Ribble Valley. In Here's One I Made Earlier, Paul, 36, will join other chefs alongside presenter Mark Wogan, son of Terry.

Paul says the new show has a fresh look and caters for everything from barbecues to three-course dinners. But even he admits that finding inspiration can be difficult. "There are so many shows on TV and you've got to strive for something that nobody else has done," he said.

"The TV work has now been done and I've no intention of doing any more filming this year."

Paul's rise in the fickle world of fashionable food began when he took simple British fare and made it trendy enough to wow the London critics.

After studying at Bolton College, he eventually landed a job at Raymond Blanc's classy Le Manor Aux Quat' Saisons, near Oxford. But was always determined to run his own place.

At 29, he had achieved his ambition with Heathcote's in Longridge, winner of two Michelin stars. Now he has another brasserie in Preston and one in Manchester.

After starting with just four people seven years ago in Longridge, Paul now employs 140 full and part-time staff in his "empire" and in September he opens a special training school for his staff in Manchester.

But Paul says the original Heathcote's is still where his heart is and he does not intend to move.

"I had a very lucrative offer to open a restaurant in London - in Mayfair - and I gave it serious consideration but it was not what I wanted to do," he said.

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