TV FILMS OF THE WEEK
which also featured David Suchet as Salvador Dali.
“I was sitting there looking puzzled and David asked what’s wrong and I said ‘I’ve just been offered Bake Off’. He’s a method actor so I forgot he stayed in character and he said ‘what does your gut tell you?’.
“I went ‘It’s telling me to do it’ and he went ‘it is God’s barometer’.
“Two weeks later he went ‘you know I was Salvador Dali when I gave you that advice’.”
There can be no argument of a lack of camaraderie from this new-look line-up. Noel and Sandi have natural chemistry but whether the foursome can transmit that through the TV is a different matter.
“It’s a tricky situation because the original team had such good chemistry and it obviously worked,” says Noel as the newcomers reveal it will pain them if they are judged poorly by viewers.
“It’s a wonderful show and it’s much loved and you wouldn’t want to wreck that,” says Sandi, 59, while Prue adds: “If they say ‘not good enough’ then I’ll mind a lot.”
With 16 million viewers at the end of the last series, any changes to one of Britain’s most popular shows are going to be scrutinised.
To lose three-quarters of your line-up and shift from an ad-free format into the world of sponsorship was always going to be difficult. But in terms of talent, the new additions are certainly behind making the show work.
Noel says he keeps finding himself offering advice he didn’t think he knew, “that’s the wrong kind of gelatine”, while Sandi jokes they have “learned a whole new language”.
“We talk about crumb now, don’t we?” she adds, turning to Noel and saying: “I heard you say the word compote the other day. It’s insane.”
The pair also admit to worrying about the bakers. Noel quips – with no sense of irony – that they are the “magic ingredient”, adding: “They are always the stars of the show.
“We were quite surprised at how quickly we cared about them. On week one we were like ‘I love them’. They are like our children.”
“You fall in love with them, you absolutely do,” says Sandi. “We feel like we really know them, it hurts when someone leaves, it’s painful. The whole story is about them.”
Paul describes this year’s batch as the “best we’ve ever had” while Sandi adds: “What’s really lovely is how well they get on with each other. You become a big family.
“It sounds a bit soppy but you do. A large dysfunctional family ... well Noel’s the dysfunctional part.”
“I’m the dog,” he says to the familiar sound of laughter. CAPTAIN Richard Phillips (Tom Hanks) kisses his wife Andrea (Catherine Keener) goodbye and takes charge of his cargo vessel, the Maersk Alabama, bound for Mombasa, Kenya. Somali pirates led by Muse (Barkhad Abdi) board the vessel and Phillips conceals his crew below deck while he takes charge of the situation. Faced with threats of violence from Muse, Phillips puts himself in harm’s way to ensure the safety of every man on board, but the stand-off spirals out of control. Based on the book by Richard Phillips and Stephan Talty, Captain Phillips is a nerve-racking thriller that fully deserved its six Oscar nominations. EX-SPECIAL Forces operative Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson, left) dotes on grown-up daughter Kim (Maggie Grace). Ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen) questions her marriage to her second husband, so Bryan gives her a key to his flat if she needs to get away. Soon after, Bryan returns home to find Lenore murdered. Determined to clear his name and unmask the killer, he goes on the run.