Mary Berry’s Christmas Party
BBC ONE, 8.30PM; SCOTLAND, WEDNESDAY, 8.00PM; NI, THURSDAY, 11.40PM
Slotting neatly into TV’S newest festive tradition, in which celebrities test their skills and then the doyenne of British baking shows how simple it really is to cook Christmas food, Mary Berry’s Christmas Party is the dictionary definition of easy viewing. Shorn of dramatic tension by the fact that the four famous faces take turns in Berry’s kitchen, rather than competing against one another, it could only have been cosier if (in times past) Val Doonican had become involved.
The guests themselves are having plenty of fun. BBC news anchor Huw Edwards turns up with his “bulging biceps” (Berry is in flirtatious mode) and general incompetence; Poldark’s Eleanor Tomlinson fields questions about sex scenes with Aidan Turner that she’d refuse anywhere else; sprinter Dina Asher-smith loses a nail mid-pastry roll; and comedian Joe Lycett reveals his own bizarre Christmas tradition (six Weetabix, full-fat milk and cream). The food isn’t bad either: chicken and mushroom suet pie, peppered fillet of beef, hazelnut roulade. And through it all, Berry, still the nation’s favourite grandmother, basks in her late-blossoming career.