New family cook-off isn’t just a Fake-Off

THIS WEEK’S TV

The big family cooking showdown (bbc2)

You can imagine the meeting at the Beeb.

“What’s another word for Great?” “How about Big?” “Instead of British it’ll have to be Family.” “Bake-Off? Can we change that to…err… Cooking Showdown?”

The BBC’s attempt to whip up a replacement for Bake Off, The Big Family Cooking Showdown, arrived last week and several things seemed familiar.

The Showdown featured a cosy cooking contest set over three rounds, hosted by a former Bake Off winner and with a gentle plinky-plonky soundtrack.

Shouldn’t they have just called it Fake Off?

Wisely, though, the BBC didn’t simply serve up the same dish with a slightly different name.

Each week two families of three go head-to-head so, instead of lone bakers pursing their lips as they wait for a meringue to emerge from the oven, there are potentially fraught family dramas ready to bubble over.

While we didn’t quite reach boiling point, there were a few clashes, mainly within the middle class Marks family.

Matriarch Toren, 86, wasn’t backward in coming forwards.

As her grandson Oscar struggled to dissect a fish, Toren berated him. Oscar’s mum asked if he needed help.

“It’s a bit late for that, really,” he snapped. Oh, dear.

game of Thrones (sky aTlanTic)

We used to complain about things moving slowly on Game Of Thrones, but as we approach the endgame, the opposite is the case.

The plot is flying along and weirdly, everyone moves about the different locations in the fictional world in moments.

Has Uber finally arrived in Westeros?