The announcement that Nigella Lawson was taking over from Prue Leith as a judge on The Great British Bake Off was greeted by most with excited anticipation.
Over nearly 30 years, the Domestic Goddess has been a mainstay on screens and in the culinary world as a prolific author, critic and chef. And given there has always been a light dusting of innuendo over Bake Off since it started in 2010, add Nigella – famous for her on-screen coquettish eyelash-fluttering and cheeky language choices – into the mix, and you’d imagine the sauciness gets dialled up to 11.
Instead, she’s cut back on the sauce. She makes well-informed and helpful comments about the amateur bakers’ efforts and, although previous judges Mary Berry and Prue Leith are extremely hard acts to follow, the 66-year-old makes a strong debut in the tent.
That’s not to say she doesn’t occasionally drop a suggestive word or two into her critiques. “I like a bit of goo,” or “Mmmm, sumptuous,” she sighs as she devours some delicious morsel alongside veteran returnee Paul Hollywood.
In the run-up to Bake Off’s return, there have been suggestions in the media that there was tension between Lawson and Hollywood. She has subsequently dismissed the rumours, stating: “Half [the viewers] will go, ‘Oh, there’s clearly something going on with them’ and the other half will say, ‘Oh, clearly they don’t like each other!” Quite possibly, but judging by episode 1, I couldn’t find any evidence of either statement.
Hollywood, Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding generously allow her to take centre stage in the tent (at least, for now) while the 12 contestants are rightly more concerned with the challenges that lie ahead.
The first task is to make Nigella’s chocolate Guinness cake, while her technical challenge doesn’t even have a basic recipe to follow. There are catastrophes along the way (come on, you watch this show for the disasters almost as much as the triumphs).
One devastated contestant drops their entire just-cooked cake onto the floor, while several fail to grasp that time passes quicker in the tent than in the real world and so don’t manage to finish their creation by the time Hammond or Fielding tell them to stop baking.
As for the calibre of the bakers this series, they seem to have risen to the occasion, too. One or two of the showstoppers in this opening episode (to bake a self-portrait cake) are nothing short of spectacular. If this is their starting point, it bodes well for the final.
The bakers are, as always, a mixed bunch. Different ages, backgrounds and occupations including a drag artist, a retired garment technologist, a couple of students, a doctor and a hairdresser. You’ll probably have picked out the most irritating one as well as your favourite before their ovens have even heated up. Fielding doesn’t hide his opinion, announcing who is his favourite when she answers “indeed-a-roonie” to one of his questions.
Like a well-loved recipe, Bake Off has gone through many tweaks, adjustments and reincarnations since its first series. The format has been tinkered with, presenters and judges have come and gone; even the broadcaster has changed.
Throughout it all, the show has remained much-loved – and the latest formula, with Nigella now in the mix, looks set to be every bit as delicious.
The Great British Bake Off returns on Tuesday 22 September at 8pm on Channel 4.
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