REALITY TV WORTH WATCHING

If there’s one rule you should follow when tuning in to that most delightful of TV confections, The Great British Bake Off, it’s to have something scrumptious in your house.

After an hour of feasting your eyes on the most delectable looking cakes, biscuits, pies, bread or other such waistline-unfriendly treats, you don’t want to be caught out with sad carrot sticks.

The GBBO is back for its eighth season on Foxtel and it’s the first time the cult series will be without three of its four mainstays after the show made a move from BBC to Channel 4 in the UK.

Chef and judge Paul Hollywood is the only one to have survived the transition.

The venerable Mary Berry has been replaced by restaurateur and cookbook author Prue Leith.

The goofy hosting pair of Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins have stepped down and in their place are the mercurial Noel Fielding of The Mighty Boosh fame and comedian Sandi Toksvig.

GBBO is that rare beast in the “reality competition” genre in that it’s actually worth watching. Instead of its nasty cousins with their tedious focus on scandals, rivalries and “villains”, the show is a salve for all the ills of its thankless category.

The series embodies that “Keep Calm and Carry On” British spirit – no one throws a tizzy.

In this series, one contestant confessed that he was a bit “upset” when the judges spat out his food, but then he got on with the job. No tantrums, no scheming for revenge. Someone can even utter “what a disaster” without sounding the least bit dramatic. How invigorating.

Sitting down to GBBO is like, well, it’s like sitting down to a cup of tea while the smell of baking scones wafts through the house. Truly restorative.

The Great British Bake Off airs Tuesdays at 7.30pm ADST on LifeStyle Food.