The Great British Bake Off

Channel 4, Tuesdays, 8pm

Iwas furious when Channel 4 stole Bake Off from the BBC. Well, to be fair, they paid £75m for it. To be even more fair, it was really all the production company’s fault for falling out with the BBC in the first place. What made me angry about the whole situation was that it felt like the perfect TV show was being wantonly destroyed before our eyes: the BBC’S Bake Off had the best presenters, the finest possible judges, and a perennially superb line-up of amateur bakers. But even I, risk-averse Bake Off devotee that I am, have to admit the new version on C4 is absolutely fine. More than that, having watched the first two episodes, it’s actually really good. Much of the credit for this goes to the producers for having the wisdom to fiddle with the finely honed format as little as possible. It really is textbook Bake Off every step of the way, with newbies Prue Leith, Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding slipping into their roles with such stealth, they already feel like old telly chums. Every now and then, I find the Toksvig/fielding banter just a tad contrived, but Noel’s sweetness and charm complements Sandi’s sharpness and wit. And Paul is just Paul – perhaps even more Hollywood than before – doling out his much sought-after handshakes like they’re the greatest accolade anyone can desire. As for Prue, sheer expertise oozes from her like perfectly piped icing. The real stars are still the bakers, of course, and the magical “illusion cakes” in this week’s episode are jaw-droppingly brilliant creations that turn a perfectly decent start into something pretty glorious in the end. Now I feel silly for getting so worked-up about new GBBO in the first place.