I was hopelessly devoted to Sandy from the Bake Off
Last night my favourite contestant was knocked out of The Great British
Bake Off (BBC One) and left me broken-hearted like John Travolta in Grease. I was hopelessly devoted to Sandy Docherty.
It was dessert week and, typically for a British summer, it was pouring – not just cream but rain too. As it pitter-pattered on the marquee roof, presenters Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins shivered in cagoules, and the bakers were interviewed under umbrellas. It was as if the weather knew that Sandy, this year’s most entertaining contestant, was set to depart.
While her rivals have stressed and sweated, she’s kept things light with her bone-dry Bradford wit, as well as giving Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins a run for their money innuendo-wise. Over the weeks, she wore sparkly shoes, admitted she was “a bit random” and remarked: “I might start off making a cake and end up with a meat pie.” She performed celebratory fist-pumps when her bakes rose, like a more macho Tim Henman. It was far preferable to all the blubbing and huffing elsewhere in the tent.
This week’s signature bake was crème brûlées but because Bake Off is strictly old-school, no blowtorches were allowed. Well, with all that bunting and canvas, naked flames would be a fire hazard. “A crème brûlée should wobble like my backside,” said Sandy. Sadly, she produced something more akin to soup than custard.
Mary Berry, resplendent in another trademark floral blazer, set a fiendish technical challenge: Spanische Windtorte. Sandy ran through her full range of facial expressions, puffing out her cheeks as the pressure mounted and rolling her eyes when her meringue snagged on the oven shelf.
Finally came the showstopper: a “towering tin-ferno” of three stacked cheesecakes. Never one to take cake too seriously, Sandy got the giggles as her creation collapsed. Her third tier was presented to the judges separately, which sealed her fate.
After last week’s rather flat episode, the show returned to form. It was packed with wry wit, gentle drama and delicious food. Did Sandy get her just desserts? Possibly so, but the marquee will be less fun without her fist-pumps. Oh, Sandy.
There’s an irritating trend these days for people to bandy about the phrase “OCD” when simply they mean “tidy” or “fussy”. “I’m a bit
OCD about my desk,” they’ll boast, believing it’s endearingly quirky. Such term-devaluers would have done well to tune into Horizon: OCD –
a Monster in My Mind ( BBC Two) to see what true obsessive compulsive disorder looks like.
The stories here were heartbreaking. Teenager Sophie was convinced she’d murdered people, so constantly checked for corpses wherever she went. Richard was palpably terrified of germ contamination and prone to taking 10-hour showers. It was painful to watch him make a sandwich, washing his hands every few seconds, before breaking down in tears. “It follows me around and it’s hell,” he confessed. “If I was stronger, I would have killed myself.”
Thankfully, this wasn’t a Channel 4 show with a lurid title but a seriousminded film in BBC Two’s science strand. The emphasis was less on voyeuristic case studies and more on neurology. Psychologist Professor Uta Frith, a kindly German bluestocking type, explained how OCD is a crippling brain disorder and investigated the help available to sufferers.
Frith used refreshingly plain language to communicate complex theories and much of the science was fascinating. Over in Amsterdam, Nanda was so fixated on the “components” of her own face, she was unable to leave the house. She underwent pioneering brain surgery and in gruesomely hypnotic footage, had electrodes inserted deep into her brain to disrupt the circuits that caused her all-consuming worries.
Best of all, there were happy endings of sorts. Richard entered a treatment programme for the first time. Behavioural therapy taught Sophie to ride out her anxieties and she was well enough to take her A-levels. The operation brought Nanda some respite.
Frith enthused about the huge advances in neuroscience over the past 50 years and was optimistic that it would soon help all sorts of disorders. Viewers, meanwhile, will never use the term “OCD” lightly again. The Great British Bake Off ★★★★ Horizon: OCD – a Monster in My Mind ★★★★