New Bake Off is so cheffin’polite
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AS if we needed reminding how much we love Prince Harry... A heart-warming special on ITV on Thursday whizzed through the life of our favourite royal, leaving us in no doubt. Prince Harry’s Story: Four Royal Weddings charted his journey from the little boy who lost his mother Princess Diana, through the rebellious teens, to service on the front lines in Afghanistan and finally his charity work and upcoming wedding to Meghan Markle. Archive video clips were surprisingly emotional. One minute I was laughing to see four-year-old Harry sticking his tongue out at photographers, the next sobbing to see the word “Mummy” written on that funeral wreath. He’s certainly had an extraordinary life. I’ll be rooting for him on the big day. IN the latest round of Bake Off Wars – a conflict that has lasted as long as Brexit – BBC1 made its latest brave move on Thursday. Britain’s Best Home Cook arrived to great fanfare, along with its killer ingredient... Mary Berry. How do you like them apples, Channel 4? Like a mash-up of Masterchef and The Apprentice, ten home cooks were forced to live together, giving plenty of scope for shots of bed hair, panicked phone calls and passive aggressive trash talk. Fingers crossed for next week. Every so often they were driven off to a studio kitchen for a cook-off. Fortunately on arrival they didn’t have to contend with anyone as scary as Lord Sugar or as irritating as Gregg Wallace. Peering out from under her fringe, host Claudia Winkleman was far kinder, prancing around like an over-excited puppy, occasionally stopping to help open a jar, give a cuddle or perform an extremely loud countdown.
“I feel like you’re giving birth,” she told one contestant as he tried to remove a pie from a tin. At least I think that’s what he was doing.
I’m a bit of a Claudia fangirl. She always adds wit and irony to proceedings.
Then she announced: “The proper queen is here. Don’t try to touch her immediately.” And Mary arrived, stylish as ever, with accessories to rival those adorning Bake Off’s Prue Leith.
The Great British Fashion Fix With Mary and Prue? Now there’s a show I’d like to see.
Unfortunately for produce expert Chris Bavin and top chef Dan Doherty, they are most likely to be referred to as “the other judges”. Sorry, guys, the dazzle of Mary’s halo means I didn’t really notice you. But, yes, they lend extra expertise to the mix. In the first episode the cooks had 90 minutes to prepare their ultimate burger.
A spicy Indian version and a Welsh rarebit burger proved I have zero imagination because I expected ten cheeseburgers.
Then in round two the chefs invented a dish made with nuts, before an elimination skills test of asparagus, poached egg and sourdough. I spent the entire hour salivating and was mildly disappointed with my beans on toast dinner.
And so to the big question – is it better than Bake Off? Well, there’s certainly less bunting, fewer cakes and we are yet to see a row on the scale of custard-gate.
It’s just different. A polite, less stressful version of the mash-up I mentioned.
When a chef was booted off, there was even an affectionate round of applause.
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