Can a former car thief or someone who left school with no qualifications run their own restaurant? That’s what Jamie Oliver wants to find out in this new four-part series.

Five years ago Jamie’s Kitchen followed his attempts to turn around the lives of a group of unemployed youngsters by training them to cook at new restaurant Fifteen. Now 50 trainees have graduated from the charitable scheme, while similar restaurants have launched in Cornwall, Amsterdam and Melbourne. But Jamie wants to take the next giant leap: helping one of them to set up their own restaurant.

He chooses four of the young chefs to undergo a crash course in the skills they’re going to need to succeed. Dennis is an ex-joyrider, Taz came to the UK with nothing in her teens, Aaron wants to give his daughters a better life, and John travelled from rural Ireland to seek his fortune.

As well as running a kitchen, the trainees will be handling front of house, sourcing ingredients and paying the bills. They’ve already come a long way, but it’s a massive step up and some of them are finding it really tough and Jamie’s belief that the trainees can be just like him has to be balanced by the charity’s understandable caution. And with the prospect of cooking for Jamie’s birthday party looming, the pressure is on the young chefs. Next week the winner is chosen, then the series follows their attempts to transform a run-down rural boozer into a successful upmarket gastropub.

Jamies Chef airs on Channel 4 on 31/01/2007 at 21:00