Scone in sixty seconds
NOW, who could forget the winner of last year’s MASTERCHEF: THE PROFESSIONALS? Yes, exactly. It was Alex Webb. Of course it was. Good old Alex. It’s no exaggeration to say his name is etched in my memory, and has been there ever since I entered: “Who the heck won last year’s Master Chef: The Professionals?” into my web browser’s search bar about four minutes ago.
That’s one of the peculiar things about this show, which returns tonight for its 14th series (BBC1, 7.35pm, 8.30pm). You can find yourself more or less hooked, as invariably I am myself, tuning in religiously for every episode, right through to the programme’s nail-biting final. Then feeling so thrilled for the winner when their name is called out, knowing their dream has come true and that they’ll get to lift that coveted trophy, even though it’s really quite ugly and personally I wouldn’t give it houseroom, and hoping this triumph marks the start of an exciting new chapter for them.
And yet a fortnight or so later? The whole competition, to which I’ve just devoted all those precious hours of my viewing time, will already have become a distant memory. Last year’s winner? See, I’ve forgotten again already.Was it Alex Scott?
That’s not to devalue each champion’s achievement, I hasten to add. It’s just that the exciting opportunities now open to them will come in the world of fine dining, a sort of parallel universe I rarely enter.
They’ll teleport back to that universe and, fingers crossed, become celebrated names but I doubt we’ll be seeing them hosting their own game show or flogging Knorr Stock Pots.
Still, this doesn’t make me any less excited about the new series starting tonight, as the first of the latest hopefuls enter the Master Chef kitchen.
Lauren! Nico! Dan! Dario! Which of these contestants will most impress Gregg Wallace and his judging pals, Monica Galetti and Marcus Wareing?
Yes remember, there’s no John Torode in this one. This is the version John gets to sit out, so he can focus instead on other challenges, such as learning how to say “pasta” and “yogurt” properly.
Elsewhere tonight, it’s time for yet another fine new ITV police drama, once again stripped across successive nights.
THE TOWER (9pm) stars Gemma-Whelan and Jimmy Akingbola as detectives investigating a particularly grim case, a girl and a police officer both having fallen to their deaths from a tower block roof.
By Wednesday night, as the last part concludes, the mystery will have been solved and we’ll know how it happened.
And obviously by the weekend I’ll have forgotten.