The viral hit home appliance of the pandemic – the air fryer – is evidently no passing fad. The proportion of Brits owning one has been put at 46% [Iceland customer survey] to 51% [Leatherhead Food Research] – and that was before Christmas. As of this week, six of Amazon’s top 12 bestselling books are air fryer cookbooks.

Channel 5 has savvily jumped on the craze with a four-part series: Air Fryers Made Easy, the second episode of which focused on using the device for dinner party catering (4 April, 8pm). Other episodes cover Sunday lunch, takeaways and batch cooking.

It’s not the channel’s first programme on the topic. There’s been a deluge in recent months – Air Fryers: Christmas Made Easy, Air Fryers vs Microwaves: Which Is Better?, Air Fryers: An Easy Way to Lose Weight, Air Fryers: Do You Know What You’re Missing? and Air Fryers: Do You Have The Right One?

Other channels are due to jump on the bandwagon. Channel 4 aired Air Fryers: Are They Worth It? Almost a year ago, but a dedicated series starring Jamie Oliver – Jamie’s Air-Fryer Meals, made with Tefal – is imminent.

Kudos for C5 for spotting a trend and churning out hours and hours of content on it. As Richard Osman put it on his podcast The Rest Is Entertainment: “You have a commissioning team there that understands what normal human beings are interested in”.

As for the content? Well: a few recipe ideas, some so-called celebrities and oodles of filler. Have we reached peak air fryer TV? Not even close.

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