Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Whitty a wanted man ...for Bake Off special
Prof and PM are Paul’s top picks
Chris Whitty has barely been off our screens since the pandemic started.
And now he could be getting even more air time – if Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood get their way.
They want the Covid crusader to star on the next series of Celeb Bake Off, along with his boss Boris Johnson. The PM and the prof are two of their top choices for the Stand Up To Cancer spin-off.
Paul admits he’d like to turn up the heat on them, saying: “Professor Whitty, I’d like him. And Boris Johnson. Get them in the tent and put a bit of pressure on them!”
This week’s opening episode features Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley, 28, pop star Alexandra Burke, 32, and comics Rob Beckett, 35, and Tom Allen, 37. They are put through their paces with Paul, 55, and Prue, 81, setting them a showstopper cake task themed on their biggest bugbear.
Alexandra, they reveal, made a cake about her footballer ex-boyfriend Angus MacDonald. “I loved her showstopper,” says Prue.
“She didn’t like the fact her footballer boyfriend got into bed with all his kit on and muddy shoes.”
Reflecting on how Bake Off has become a big hit around the world, Paul admits he couldn’t believe it when film star Blake Lively asked if she could have one of his famous handshakes after posting a photo of her unicorn cake on Instagram.
He says: “I commented on it and said, ‘Well done’ and gave a handshake emoji, and she said, ‘I can’t believe it! Paul Hollywood’s seen it!’ I didn’t realise she’s a big fan.”
He added of her husband: “Ryan [Reynolds] likes pies apparently, more than cakes.”
The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer, Channel 4,
Tuesday, 8pm
Dame Sheila Hancock ended up as an actor because she was a “bit mad”. Back on screen with ITV hit Unforgotten, she admits: “When I was young there weren’t that many opportunities for women.
“You either were a teacher or a secretary or a nurse. And if you were a bit mad, or if your sister happened to be on the stage, then you probably went on the stage – and that seemed the best option for me.”
Following Dermot O’Leary’s revelation that he was ditched from Who Do You Think You Are? because his family was deemed too dull, Stacey Dooley says she suffered the same fate.
The presenter, who’s fronting DNA Stories for the BBC, has revealed her history wasn’t juicy enough for the show.
“They traced my family back hundreds of years and they only found links to Liverpool and Ireland,” she says. “There was probably only enough content to fill the opening credits.”