Vickery followed Gary Rhodes as head chef of the Castle Hotel, Taunton, Somerset, which at the time held a Michelin Star.
He appeared in BBC's Ready Steady Cook over 200 times between 1996 and 2010 until the show's retirement, often being nicknamed "Phil Victory" due to his high win record in the series.
He became interested in the subject of gluten-free food when a Christmas pudding company he owned switched to using rice flour, and he noticed an increase in orders due to the niche position the product occupied.
He began dating Fern Britton in 1999 after they met on the set of BBC Two's Ready Steady Cook.
Vickery and Britton announced on their Twitter accounts on 29 January 2020 that they were separating after 20 years of marriage.