The term ‘celebrity chef’ is now almost an insult. A dismissal of those small-time foodie hoods lurking in the shadowy alleys of fame while kingpins Jamie, Delia and latterly Heston expand their one-person empires exponentially.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is heading that way. Since Hugh the Hustler went global his (river) cottage industry has stepped up its ambition.

Despite the name, River Cottage Everyday (Thursday 8pm, Channel 4) is not on TV every day. But it aims to let us feel the Furry love at least once between each sunrise and sunset. Its star still looks like a squinty-eyed Rat from Wind in the Willows, albeit a savagely carnivorous one with sleep deprivation and his own multimedia fiefdom. But now the audacity of Huge knows no bounds.

“I believe that no matter how busy our lives, cooking from scratch with fresh ingredients is a pleasure that can be enjoyed by everybody, everyday,” he says. It’s a noble cause, but maybe a tad optimistic considering how many of us are time-poor, money-poor and can-be-arsed-poor in these turbulent times.

More specifically, this week’s message was to “feel good about fish”. Huge certainly does, noting: “There are few foods I enjoy handling more.”

That made for rewardingly slimy television, with Huge stuffing fennel, garlic and lemon into anything with gills. He even turned one woman into “a lover of mussels”, and not by deploying his godlike physique.

Huge observed that the “best way to be a conscientious fish eater is to eat lots of different kinds”, which is why this column recommends getting in the bluefin tuna as often as possible (while stocks last). He said he yearned to help people “understand fish a little better and cook it without fear”, repeatedly stressing that fresh fish can be great value. And the end-product invariably looked sensational.

But Huge didn’t address the real problem that stops folks buying the stuff fresh. It’s not that it’s hard to cook, or its cost. People don’t like food that stares unblinkingly back at them from the kitchen counter until you decapitate it yourself.

A maxim for these times of depression: we have nothing to fear but fish itself.

More from this column