Bubbles burst into action

HONESTLY, where would we be right now without bubbles? Not the bubbles that come in nice chunky bottles with corks, although obviously those would come in handy as well, but bubbles of the social kind.

The bubbles, I mean, that are letting us meet up with other people again, albeit not as many as other people as we’d like to meet up with, and not if we happen to live in the wrong place, and/ or they do, and provided we don’t get all reckless and bear- huggy with them.

The bubbles which, on a larger scale, have allowed lots of sport to resume, and, way more importantly, given the nation the ultimate morale boost of seeing Ant and Dec standing right next to each other on the telly again. Yes, those bubbles.

In television terms, they’ve meant a certain amount of normality has been able to resume, or at least to look as though it’s resumed, on shows that represent all we hold dear, or a fairly big chunk of it.

Shows, that is, such as

THE

GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF, a new series of which is miraculously able not only to kick off tonight ( C4, 8pm) but largely to look like business as usual.

I say “largely” because obviously Noel Fielding’s co- host Sandi Toksvig has left ( we’ll get to what she’s up to in a moment), to be replaced by a bald man who used to make sketch shows it’s now illegal to laugh at.

And obviously there’s a different dynamic among the contestants, who have had to bubble up together for several weeks ( as have the hosts and judges; I bet that’s been weird).

Oh, and the tent’s in a different place, not that you’d guess.

But yes, other than those things, this new series feels, in the words of judge Paul Hollywood, “very, very familiar”. Or, to quote co- judge Prue Leith, “familiar, comforting, lucrative.”

Sorry, I mean “lovely”. Prue’s last word there was “lovely”, not “lucrative”. Stupid keyboard.

First up, it’s cake week, starting with the signature challenge of a Battenberg.

Prue does enjoy a Battenberg, at least if it’s made properly. “It’s a real treat,” she declares. “I’m really rich!”

Sorry, that should say “it’s”, not “I’m”.

I really think this laptop needs binning.

Anyway, ex- host Sandi Toksvig, since you were asking, actually turns up on the very next show, a new two- parter called THE WRITE OFFS ( C4, 9.30pm).

Filmed over 18 weeks, it sees Sandi and a team of experts giving a potentially life- changing boost to its eight participants, each currently held back by their lack of basic literacy skills.

You should watch this one as well. It’s remarkably moving.