Bake Off is back!
Six weeks of isolation, personal kitchens for the bakers... and a huge outpouring of emotion. As Bake Off returns, judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith reveal how they did it...
Yes, it’s a month late and subject to the restrictions that have derailed many of our favourite programmes, but The Great British Bake Off will finally be back on TV this month. And for the show’s millions of fans it can’t come soon enough, giving us all the chance to wallow in comfort food in the midst of the ongoing pandemic.
For much of the year a question mark hung over the new series, but its cancellation seemed unthinkable. Could they really make it happen while keeping everyone safe from coronavirus, however? The answer is yes. In a mammoth undertaking, about 130 people, including crew, contestants, hosts and judges, went into isolation to create a huge bubble. The location of this self-contained biosphere was Down Hall in Essex, a country house hotel set in 110 acres of gardens, parkland and woods.
Now, with filming complete, judges Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood have emerged to tell us what we can expect. ‘It was a great series,’ says Prue, 80, via video from her home. ‘To get into this bubble we had to be tested three times in nine days, and during that time we were in strict quarantine. I didn’t leave my house, Paul didn’t leave his, none of the crew or hotel staff could leave theirs. It was as if we were all vulnerable old ladies.’
But it worked. Nobody got sick and filming, usually spread over three months, was condensed into six weeks in July and August. ‘It was a really friendly atmosphere,’ says Prue. ‘We couldn’t go home, so we all socialised more than ever. It must have been the safest place in England. It was a bit like being at Butlin’s.’
‘Yes, it was like camping,’ agrees Paul Hollywood, 54, joining the conversation from his kitchen. ‘It was like Glastonbury and the tent was the Pyramid Stage.’ Their encampment included shepherds’ huts as hospitality rooms for Prue, Paul and hosts Noel Fielding, 47, and newcomer Matt Lucas, 46, who’s taken over from Sandi Toksvig.
Crucially, there was also a tent with 12 practice kitchens in which the bakers could perfect recipes during their downtime. Filming was two days on, two days off. ‘Everyone was doing yoga,’ reveals Paul. ‘There was a tennis court, Pilates and keep-fit classes. We played rounders once a week and there were football matches. We were going from place to place on the estate in golf buggies. It was like some weird cult.’ Paul even took his own ping-pong table and pizza oven. ‘We had two pizza evenings where I made pizzas for everybody. One night we served 200!’
‘The bakers were allowed to bring their families,’ adds Prue. ‘It was lovely having children around. It was such fun to see the kids play rounders. I’m very good at watching with a glass in my hand! I had my two spaniels and went walking with them every day for an hour. I feel great. I usually have all those old lady aches. Now I don’t have any.’
Despite the behind-the-scenes changes, the show will look the same as ever on screen. ‘The viewer will see Bake Off exactly as it’s always been,’ says Prue. ‘Because we didn’t have to be socially distanced in the tent.’
‘There was a story that Bake Off was cancelled,’ Paul laughs. ‘We actually read that
on the set!’
So reports of the death of the Hollywood Handshake were greatly exaggerated? ‘If someone deserved a handshake, I’d have given one for sure,’ he says. And did he give many? ‘Wait and see!’ he teases.
So what of the contestants? This year’s bunch range in age from 19 to 61 and include a music teacher, an accountant and a panto producer. They’re all hoping to emulate 2019 champion David Atherton and win the coveted cake stand. ‘The bakers were some of the best we’ve had,’ Paul says. ‘I’ve seen different flavours, different approaches, different techniques — and some of the best sponges and pastries I’ve ever seen in the tent. The standard blew everybody away.’
‘And the originality!’ adds Prue. ‘They’d take a traditional method from one cuisine and combine it with flavours and ingredients from another. There’s one savoury bake — I can’t tell you what, but I stole the recipe. I’ve made it twice since.’
The bakers start with Cake Week, and the first task is a Battenberg.
There are two new themed episodes — Japanese Week and 1980s Week. Nothing disastrous went in the bin then?
‘It was the safest place, a bit like Butlins’ PRUE LEITH
‘Oh no, there’s no Baked Alaskagate,’ laughs Paul. ‘Even with icecream and the heat. It was the hottest tent we’ve ever had.’ What about human meltdowns? ‘They were emotional,’ says Paul. ‘The gap between each round was shorter, so they probably felt the pressure. Normally they go home for a week, practise, and come back refreshed. But we didn’t have that luxury. On the upside though, they got very tight as a team because they were living together. It got very emotional when someone left.’
You might think fewer days to practise would lead to a drop in standards, but Prue says not. ‘When you’re at home with children and have to go to work the next day, it’s harder to practise. Although you have five days, you’ve only got a couple of hours in the evening. Whereas this time they were just focused on baking.’
And they haven’t been the only ones. Forced to radically change our lives thanks to the coronavirus, of our coping mechanisms has been to bake. There’s been a surge in demand for baking goods in recent months and supermarket shelves were stripped of flour.
‘This year, more than any other, we need Bake Off,’ say Paul. ‘If you look at what happened during lockdown, the baking going on was off the scale. Bake Off was all over Channel 4 and their media players. People were watching series after series on Netflix.
‘It became my escapism too, and I was getting the same feedback from the public. It did help people’s psyches. They could learn a new skill. I reckon the applications for Bake Off after this are going to go through the roof.’
Lockdown was tough for all of us, but the judges say it left them counting their blessings. ‘I so enjoyed being at home,’ says Prue. ‘It’s awful to say, but I did. I wondered why I’m always rushing around and working so hard. I tried to make a resolution that I’ll do less. ‘It was the first year for ages I’ve been here in early spring for long enough to see the garden changing,’ she says. ‘I know I’m so lucky when other people are having such a horrible time in a flat with children underfoot, trying to home-school and all the rest. But one of the things I did really enjoy during lockdown was baking and cooking for the local care home every Friday.
‘I was doing what I really love to do, which is catering. I’m not really a fancy chef, I’m a very good caterer. I like cooking for numbers and I like old-fashioned food and that’s what the care workers wanted. One day I cooked a whole ham in the traditional way with sugar and cloves on top — it looked absolutely amazing — and gave it to them with potato salad. Or I’d make vegetable lasagne or spag bol. It sort of salved my conscience about having such a privileged life.
‘The only thing I didn’t like was that I couldn’t see the rest of my family, just my husband John. I did miss them. I remember the day restrictions were loosened. I had such a marvellous day. I saw my son, his wife and their three children for the first time. We went for lunch and it was fantastic. In the afternoon my daughter, her husband and little boy arrived. I was in such an emotional state by the end... it was wonderful.’
Paul, too, enjoyed being forced to slow down. ‘I found it quite restful,’ he admits. ‘I’ve been here a year, but my house turned into a home during lockdown. I really fell in love with it. I’ve done a lot of jobs around the house and my lawn’s fantastic. And to have that time to bake without rushing around was brilliant. I made banana bread twice a week. I started giving it out to people in the village. They were saying, “I’ve heard your banana bread is good...” I thought, “Right, I need to get more bananas...”’
‘Baking went off the scale during lockdown’
PAUL HOLLYWOOD