Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares

The venue for tonight's first programme is Ruby Tates in Brighton, owned and run by ex-actor and failed Hollywood wannabe ALLAN LOVE. Situated in an affluent and trendy area just one street back from the beach, it's an oyster bar and seafood restaurant but Allan's never tasted the food because he hates fish.

The venue for tonight's programme is The Priory, a 100-seater carvery in Haywards Heath, Sussex owned by ex IT consultant Scott. The former chapel of a nineteenth-century convent, the restaurant is in a spectacularly beautiful location and offers bargain roast dinners from a carvery that's been running for twenty years. Scott bought the place for £300k but with an ageing clientele eating for half-price, he's losing £5,000 a week.

The venue for tonight's second programme is Piccolo Teatro, a bijou vegetarian restaurant in Paris run by feisty Scot Rachel. A former waitress at the restaurant, Rachel bought it three years ago and now, along with best friend Stephanie, she's trying to convert the carnivorous French into a nation of veggies. For Gordon it's a sentimental journey to the city where he spent his formative years as a chef, a food mecca full of gastronomic delights that should be a dream.

The venue for tonight's penultimate programme is The Curry Lounge in Nottingham, the city with more restaurants per square mile than any other in Britain. This 120-seater Indian restaurant has been run since January by ex sales director Raz who's new to the business - and it shows. Despite a ~500k refurbishment and décor like a Bollywood set the honeymoon period's well and truly over. His once-healthy trade is evaporating and at his current rate of loss it's uncertain he'll make it past Christmas.

The venue for tonight's final programme is The Granary in rural Hampshire, an upmarket restaurant which - at 200 seats - is the biggest Gordon's ever taken on. Originally opened by entrepreneur Nigel Nieddu as an up-market dining club four years ago, the restaurant was relaunched after a ~2m refit, but it's still losing ~4k a week. It promises classy modern British cuisine but in reality the fussy menu features food sourced from all over the globe and the locals, disconcerted by its exclusive reputation, are staying far away. Head Chef Martin doubles as parole officer to his unruly teenage charges in the kitchen, while Nigel stubbornly struggles to contain the front-of-house chaos that he's created.

The venue for tonight's programme is The Fish & Anchor, a restaurant and bar near Lampeter in rural West Wales, owned and run by ex-boxer Mike and his wife Caron. Mike, a self-taught cook, is a one-man pressure cooker in the kitchen as he struggles to accommodate a vast menu while Caron's unique style of front-of-house management includes abusing the customers and her husband in equal measure. Every night they go twelve rounds with the local clientele who are fast deserting them to the tune of a ~£1,000 per week loss.