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Television chef duo

Peter John Hudson (8 November 1930 – September 1992) and David George Halls (14 October 1936 – 24 November 1993) were a television chef duo, whose cookery show, Hudson & Halls, ran on New Zealand television from 1976 to 1986. They gained a cult following when the pair moved to produce their show on the BBC in the United Kingdom in 1987. The duo were noted for bringing a camp humour, together with an element of slapstick, to the usually staid television cookery genre.

Peter John Hudson was born in Toorak, Melbourne, Australia, on 8 November 1930. He was adopted and did not know his parents. Hudson's adopted mother, Mary Ethel Hudson, was a trained midwife who ran an adoption agency and arranged abortions. At the time, abortions were illegal in New Zealand, and she was charged and tried for murder, along with the doctor she employed at her clinic to treat the clients who wanted a termination. Peter's mother died when he was 10 years old, and her daughter, Biddy, took over the maternity business. Hudson referred to Biddy, 21 years his senior, as his mother in later years. At 17 years old, Hudson left school and got his first job at George's department store, in the soft furnishings department. He was then sent to England, before returning to Melbourne to work as a shipping agent. David George Halls was born in Epping, England, on 14 October 1936, to parents Hilda (née Manley) and George Taylor Halls. His parents married on 13 June 1936 at St. Barnabas Church in Woodford Green, Essex. During Halls' childhood, his mother spent time in hospital, and he took on the role of cooking Sunday lunch for the family. His parents were in service, and when Halls was 10 years old, they became the caretakers of a large house, Theydon Hall. The owners, Mr and Mrs French, treated Halls and his sister, Anne, as part of the family. At the age of 15, his parents left Theydon Hall, returning to live in a council flat. Halls left school and worked at the local Coop store. Initially considering a move to Canada, he emigrated to New Zealand in 1959, after a spell working as a footwear salesman. In 1962, Hudson and Halls met at a party in Parnell, Auckland, New Zealand where Halls, by then a shoe designer, was living. Hudson, considering a move to England, had flown in from Melbourne to visit a friend. Hudson moved to Auckland, and they were soon living together, initially in Halls' flat in St Stephens Avenue, before they bought a small one bedroom cottage (with two single beds) with a swimming pool at 103 Brighton Road, Parnell. The pair held parties at their home and became known for their hospitality and cooking. The programme took a break between 1978 and 1980. During this period, the duo opened The Hudson & Halls Oyster and Fish Restaurant in Ponsonby, Auckland. The restaurant, known for its outside garden area, was only open at lunchtime and not in the evening. Despite this criticism, the first series of their BBC programme attracted three million viewers, rising to 10 million by the end of the second series. The show followed the same format; cooking and celebrity guest interviews, including personalities such as Thelma Barlow, Barbara Windsor, Pam St Clement, Bonnie Langford, Dora Bryan, Gorden Kaye and Christopher Biggins. Hudson and Halls had ambitions to use their BBC programme as a stepping stone to the USA. However, this did not materialise despite the series being sold to many countries in Europe. The BBC cancelled the programme after four series, with the last episode being broadcast in December 1990. By now, Hudson's health was failing, and the duo were struggling to find work. However, they made occasional appearances in the cooking segment on the BBC1 afternoon magazine programme Bazaar between January 1991 and June 1992. Hudson and Halls were subject to a Gotcha, a hidden camera practical joke, on Noel Edmonds' Noel's House Party, under the pretence of filming a children's cookery programme with Mr Blobby. The segment was filmed in 1992 and broadcast after Hudson's death, on 6 February 1993.

Hudson and Halls moved from New Zealand to the United Kingdom in 1990 and lived in a flat at 60 Jermyn Street, London. Halls, grief stricken and in dire financial straits, committed suicide the following year, taking an overdose of Hudson's morphine pills.

The first episode of Hudson & Halls was broadcast on BBC1 on 12 October 1987. The programme, typically 25 minutes in length and broadcast on Monday afternoons, ran for four series between 1987 and 1990. Each programme followed a similar format of cooking three dishes featuring a celebrity guest who would assist in the preparation of one of the dishes before being interviewed. Hudson and Halls would cook in a tuxedo and bow tie, and argue throughout. After the dishes had been cooked, the duo would don their dinner jackets and take the food to the table, where they interviewed their guest while sampling their culinary creations. Repeats of the first three series were broadcast on BBC1 in the mid morning slot over the summer of 1990, and series four repeated in autumn 1992.

EpisodeOriginal air dateProgramme information1Monday 30 November 1987Hudson and Halls present a selection of their favourite festive recipes.2Monday 7 December 1987Hudson and Halls go home to New Zealand to begin their Christmas celebrations with a party on a friend's boat.3Monday 14 December 1987Hudson and Halls invite friends to their Auckland home for a festive New Zealand style Christmas dinner.

Hudson and Halls were the subject of a 2001 documentary, Hudson & Halls – A Love Story, as well as a 2017 play, Hudson and Halls Live! A book, Hudson & Halls: The Food of Love, written by Joanne Drayton, was published in 2018.