Janet Christie's Mum's the Word - There’s more than one way to learn a language

TV’s Boiling Point serves up a helping of French

BBC One's Boiling Point. Pic: BBC

With the wind howling and the rain pelting outside, Youngest and I sit down among the cats to watch telly.

There a theory that just as the cheapest crisps you can source are the tastiest (Truffle? Bleugh. Beetroot and parsnip? Pot pourri) and that it’s best to go for anything fizzy orange and cheesy or that comes in a tube that doubles as a container for the catching of and release outside of mice when the cats bring one in, TV works on the same principle.

But we’ve already binged My Mum Your Dad, which I almost ruined by calling out red flags during the opening credits, then Married At First Sight UK in which we just rate the dresses because the relationships are by the very nature of it fake (although I’m not qualified since the one time I did get married I wore my dad’s tuxedo), so Youngest flicks through the menu.

“Oh look, foreign language films,” I say. “Let’s watch something French for if you get to go to France with uni next year.”

“I will be learning some French,” she says. “But not with you.”

“Casse-toi!” I say, having already started to learn some insults. “That means get lost.”

“Whatever,” she says.

“I think you mean n’importe quoi,” I say.

“And this is why,” she says and continues to flick through the channels, adding: “Have we got any snacks?”

Which is when I remember Boiling Point, the Stephen Graham-led ensemble series which is set in a high end kitchen.

“Let’s watch this,” I say. “You work in hospitality, you’ll like it. It’s good and it’s got an Edinburgh actor in it that I interviewed.”

“An actor in it that I interviewed…” she mimics and snorts.

“Casse-toi.”

It starts and silence falls, apart from the crunching of cheap crisps, as the drama grabs you right from the starters.

“This is so good,” she says, in between ‘No way can you speak to people like that,’ and ‘Just no.’

So does Youngest think Boiling Point hits the spot?

“My place isn’t posh,” she says, “but this one is and that adds extra tension, but the busyness, teamwork and rudeness of customers, they’ve definitely got that right.”

“And did you hear all those French words they were using? I say. “Could be useful.”

Le Silence. I’ll take that as a oui.

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