Is fried chicken the food of love? As unlikely as it sounds, the goings on at The Fried Chicken Shop (Channel 4, Monday, 9pm), suggest it could be. The first episode of this docusoap set in South London fast food joint the Rooster Spot lays bare just how hot wings and greasy fingers can set pulses racing.

Tyrone and Leah had their first date at the Rooster Spot and are back to discuss their plans for starting a family. Imran, who’s been working at the Spot for the past two years, is being pursued by a punter who likes her wings as spicy as she claims she is. A duo of 20-somethings back fresh from finding themselves on their gap years (yah) bemoan their lack of progress with Asian women.

Many of the characters are as endearing as they are fascinating. Their encounters are hilarious. Jessie, a 60-year-old transvestite, drops in to offer sartorial advice to the customers. “Is she a gay or a lesbian?” muses one. Cici and Lulu, who we first meet after an afternoon’s drinking on Clapham Common, consider the mysteries of ‘pansexualism’ over a bucket of chicken.

At times the viewing is as uncomfortable as being locked on the night bus with the drunken dregs of the capital after dark.

Think beatboxing public school boys, drunk bankers with no manners and pretentious urban ‘artists’ picking up bites for the boys back in the studio. But it’s worth enduring for the view of multicultural London through the eyes of one of its busiest fast food restaurants.

If chicken is the food of love, play on.