James Martin has made a great impact of British cooking since he made his first television appearance in 1996. James spent 9 years appearing on Ready Steady Cook before achieving his own show. Hitting new record viewing figures of 2.1 million, with BBC One's hugely successful Saturday Kitchen, he now has two further shows to add to the list, Sweet Baby James and The Great British Village Show. In Autumn 2006 James gained a new army of fans with his new-found prowess on the dance floor in Strictly Come Dancing, where he reached the semi-finals.

James Martin has made a great impact of British cooking since he made his first television appearance in 1996. James spent 9 years appearing on Ready Steady Cook before achieving his own show. Hitting new record viewing figures of 2.1 million, with BBC One's hugely successful Saturday Kitchen, he now has two further shows to add to the list, Sweet Baby James and The Great British Village Show. In Autumn 2006 James gained a new army of fans with his new-found prowess on the dance floor in Strictly Come Dancing, where he reached the semi-finals. 

James' father was catering manager at the stately home, Castle Howard, and James was brought up on a farmhouse in Yorkshire. At 16 he began his formal training at Scarborough Technical College, where he was Student of the Year three years in a row.

Antony Worrall Thompson noticed his work and brought him to London to work in the kitchens of 190 Queensgate, followed by dell'Ugo. James toured France, working in the kitchens of some of the old chateaux, often cooking side by side with the mothers and grandmothers of the grand old families. Moving back to England, he then worked at Chewton Glen for two years.

In 1994, at the tender age of 21, James opened the Hotel and Bistro du Vin in Winchester as Head Chef, where he daringly changed the menu everyday. Such was the success of this venture, there was an eight-week waiting list for weekend diners.

James' television career began in November 1996 with Ready Steady Cook. He was also a frequent guest on Saturday kitchen and has now been the programmes host for several years. He's filmed several of his own series for Carlton Food Network: Kid's Eat The Funniest Things, Fifty Ways to Feed Your Lover, For Better For Worse, Simply Fish, Scouting About and Entertaining with James. He was co-presenter of two shows as well including: Use Your Loaf and Master and Servant with Antony Worrall Thompson.

James was the presenter of two series of Out of the Frying Pan for Carlton TV in 2003 & 2004. In Autumn 2004 James was co-presenter of a number of programmes in the Too Many Cooks series for ITV1. In 2005 James made two series of Castle in the Country (BBC2) cooking at Glamis Castle and Castle Howard. Most recently his Digs Deep series on UK Food is all about producing and cooking your own produce and was filmed in James' own garden.

James has guested on a number of programmes, including The Heat is On for UK Living, Surprise Chefs, Junior Master Chef, BBC2's Food & Drink, Channel 4's Light Lunch, The Vanessa Show, Blue Peter, Children's BBC1 and many more. 

James has written a regular recipe column for Ideal Home Magazines and had a cooking page in the weekly publication Garden Life. His first book, Eating In With James Martin was published in October 1998 and his second The Deli Cookbook in Autumn 2000. Great British Diners came out in 2003 with Easy British Fool following mid June 2005. Great British Winter was published in 2006. The Great British Village Show Cookbook, published in 2007. This was followed by James Martin desserts, James Every Day: The Essential Collection, My Kitchen, The Collection, and his autobiography, Driven.

James can be found every weekend on the BBC1 programme Saturday Kitchen.