Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
Bake Off? IS CHILD’S PLAY!
Missing it already? Don’t worry, Prue’s back with new host Harry Hill and co-judge Liam Charles for a new junior version...
The sun has gone down on another Great British Bake Off series, but fear not if you’re desperate for your next fix. The big white tent is back already as Junior Bake Off returns, after a three-year break, for its fifth series and its first on Channel 4. It has new judges – Prue Leith and former Bake Off contestant Liam Charles – and they’ve collared comedian Harry Hill as the new host.
Harry is just the man to marshal the 40 youngsters aged nine to 15 taking part over ten heats. Not only was he on the other side of the bench last year for The Great Celebrity Bake Off when he memorably recreated the best day of his life in gingerbread – The Day I Went On Holiday With Camilla Parker Bowles – but his own children are Bake Off fans too. ‘My kids told me to do it,’ says Harry, who has three daughters with his wife Magda – Kitty, 22, Winnie, 21, and Frederica, 15. ‘They’re big fans and these days I always run things past them. They were the reason I did the celebrity one – I’d watched the show but I wasn’t a Bake Off aficionado.’
That didn’t stop him winning Star Baker in the charity show. ‘The competition wasn’t huge, though, was it?’ he chuckles. ‘Martin Kemp put his buttercream icing in the oven...’ Harry beat the Spandau Ballet star, TV presenter Bill Turnbull and comedian Roisin Conaty with his cupcakes, crêpes and a biscuit swimsuit-clad Duchess of Cornwall. ‘I wouldn’t say I know anything about baking but I’m quite artistic,’ says Harry, a budding painter, of his victory. ‘I had difficulty reading Prue, though, because she was, you know... a little bit haughty.’
Prue isn’t offended in the least. ‘It’s because I’ve got this horrible voice,’ she grumbles. ‘I have this reputation. Often people who don’t like me will say so on Twitter. Somebody said, “You can’t have that woman judging Bake Off. She’s so posh, so haughty and such a Tory.” I’ve only voted Tory once in my life, and that was when Tony Blair got in.’
‘It’s UKIP the rest of the time,’ jokes Harry.
Prue, 79, chuckles. ‘Oh, I love you!’ she exclaims. ‘Anyway, I long to meet Camilla for one reason – I want to ask her if she watched that episode. I bet she plays it over and over.’
Harry’s role on Junior Bake Off is, of course, to inject silliness into proceedings, and when the children were too nervous to laugh at the start, Harry got his dance moves out. ‘I got them flossing to break the ice,’ he says, describing a popular dance move. It was a much-needed ploy for the young Bake Off fans, who were in awe of the judges. ‘When they walked in, it was, “Oh, it’s Prue!” or, “Oh, it’s Liam!”’ he smiles. ‘They’re like rock stars to them. Most of the time I was trying to make the bakers laugh. Prue and Liam were great, they always laughed at my jokes, even the third time they heard them. And Liam and I did a few gags. He’s a natural comic.’
Since children are only allowed to film for five hours a day, the junior bakers only do two challenges – Technical and Showstopper – but otherwise the show’s as close to the adult version as possible. ‘I was surprised we were giving them the same sort of challenges we give grownups,’ says Prue. ‘I imagined it’d be more cupcakes, brownies and muffins. But it’s irrelevant how old they are. It’s simply, “Can they do it?”’ All three were surprised by how talented the bakers were. ‘They have loads of potential,’ says Liam. ‘Some came up with really cool flavour combinations and bakes I’d never think of doing. When I started baking at 16 I was just making cupcakes; this lot can make choux pastry at nine!’ Having bakes scrutinised by their idols must have been hard for the children. ‘I had this running joke that Prue’s very tough,’ says Harry, 55. ‘The kids would always say, “Yeah, but she’s honest.” They like that. They know when they’re being patronised. On occasion they’d be upset, but tears from a child are not the same as from an adult. They can be crying one minute, then laughing and skipping the next.’
Telling the truth wasn’t easy, though. ‘If you realise they’re near to tears, it’s really hard to say what you have to say,’ confesses Prue. ‘You long to tell them it’s wonderful. Do you pull back because they’re children? No. There are ways to sugar the pill. They’re not fooled. They know perfectly well it was a soggy bottom or over-baked.’
Having known the upset of being evicted from the tent himself, Liam, who came fifth in 2017, was adept at coping with wobbly bottom lips. ‘When a baker was dismissed, you’d find Liam on his knees so he was on their level, talking to them,’ says Prue. ‘It made such a difference. You’d see them nodding and sniffing.’
‘Initially I was just asking how they felt,’ explains Liam, 22. ‘Mostly they’d say, “I feel rubbish...” But after that, I’d say, “You’ve produced some really outstanding bakes. When you watch it, you’ll be so happy with what you’ve accomplished.
Now it feels rubbish, but tomorrow you’re gonna feel great.” I guess it helps being kind of their age.’
There was disappointment for Harry too. ‘I’m not really included in the tastings,’ he sighs. ‘I’d have to stand there and watch Prue and Liam working their way through ten Viennese whirls. I’d get a few scraps at the end, but I did get the recipe...’
‘Did you make them?’ asks Prue. ‘I haven’t got round to it,’ he admits.
Not that Harry’s a whizz in the kitchen. Didn’t he bake as a kid? ‘No, this was the 70s, so there was Mr Kipling,’ he grins. ‘With five kids, my parents didn’t want us to make a mess in the kitchen. But my mum baked. There’d be a slice of cake when I got back from school to eat when I watched Blue Peter.’
So why do they think Bake Off is so popular with children? ‘Well, we all love cake,’ says Prue. ‘Children love competitions too. But the reasons are the same as everyone’s: it’s time off from the stress of life.’ n
‘People say I’m too posh and haughty for the show’ PRUE LEITH