Recipe for fun
BBC1, 8pm IF Mary Berry is the key ingredient to a hit cookery show, then this latest concoction is sure to succeed.
It’s a bit of a mash-up between MasterChef and The Apprentice, with all the contestants forced to live together before being driven to a studio kitchen for challenges.
So we get to experience the joy of seeing 10 home cooks wake bleary-eyed and generally endure living together, but with aprons not sharp suits, and less trash talk.
Plus it’s the charming, flutteryeyed Claudia Winkleman who greets them, not Lord Sugar, so it’s a far less intimidating experience already.
Then, of course, Mary enters. “The proper queen is here, don’t try to touch her immediately,” quips Claudia, whose gentle wit and sarcasm is always a joy as she skips around the kitchen being helpful, opening jars, stirring pots and giving extremely loud countdowns.
Mary is a judge, alongside produce expert Chris Bavin (Claudia wants to make him his own throne out of apples) and top chef Dan Doherty.
Tonight the cooks have 90 minutes to prepare their ultimate burger and there’s everything from an Indian spiced version to a Welsh rarebit offering. Round two sees the cooks prepare a dish with one central ingredient (nuts) and no knowledge of the other ingredients available. Then one chef is eliminated but rather than a walk of shame to a black cab, there’s actually a spontaneous round of applause. Well, we are British after all...