James Martin has revealed the moment that made him stop, take a good long look at his life, and then quit BBC1 show Saturday Kitchen.

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The TV chef hung up his spatula last year, after a decade on the show. Now he has explained why...

Martin told Good Morning Britain hosts Susanna Reid and Piers Morgan that watching a stranger unexpectedly die helped trigger his decision.

"I was chatting to him," he explained, "and he stood up on stage and collapsed and passed away in front of me."

"That was just over a year ago, and that was the decision to change.

"I look back at all the work I'd done, I'd done like four days off that year, five days off the year before and I thought something's got to change.

"And that was partly the reason why I gave up the Saturday morning show."

It's not a decision he regrets, even though the BBC series remains without a permanent host.

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Martin said he was happy and content "for the first time in my life".

Authors

Eleanor Bley GriffithsDrama Editor, RadioTimes.com

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