James Martin says struggle forced him to ‘leave the kitchen’ before sudden career U-turn

James Martin decided to “leave the kitchen” and pursue another career before a sudden U-turn made him return to his job as a chef. The 53-year-old admits he “always wanted to be a chef” but was struggling with burnout early on in his career.

It prompted James to call it a day and attempt to follow in his father Ian’s footsteps by joining the police. James however concedes he “didn’t enjoy it” and his time in law enforcement was short-lived. It was then James decided to open his own restaurant and even began doing TV work. He believes his time in the police was the “kick up the a**e” he needed to throw himself back into cooking.

Speaking to Visor Down, James said: “I kind of burned myself out and decided to leave the kitchen to join the police when I was 21.

“My dad had been in the force for 10 years and part of me wanted to follow in his footsteps, but only briefly, as I didn’t enjoy it. It was the kick up the arse I needed to throw myself back into cheffing and I went straight back to it.”

James, who lives in Hampshire, recently opened up about feeling unsafe on the streets whenever he visits London. Declaring the capital “broken”, James revealed he travels with a protection dog when in the city.

It follows an incident earlier this year when vandals shattered the rear windscreen of his car in broad daylight. James also claims acquaintances of his have been targeted while in the city.

The presenter recently shared a picture of himself with a Belgian Malinois, outfitted in a "working dog" harness. He captioned the image simply: "London."

After being targeted by vandals in the city, he said: “Two of my friends' cars got stolen, one other mate got mugged and now I had this happen - all in broad daylight, all in central London. London is broken big time... next time I'm bringing the Malis.”

The TV chef will return to screens with James Martin’s Saturday Morning from 9.30am on ITV One today (August 30). This week James will be joined by Dead Ringers impressionists Jon Culshaw and Jan Ravens and The Yorkshire Vet star Peter Wright.

Chefs Atul Kochhar and Lesley Waters will be providing the recipes. James has presented the popular culinary programme on ITV since 2017.

Before then he had fronted Saturday Kitchen on the BBC since 2006. He has also presented a string of other food programmes including James Martin's French Adventure and The Great British Village Show.

His TV break came on Ready, Steady, Cook before he began contributing to shows such as Richard & Judy and This Morning.