The Great British Bake-Off
Secrets of our universe
Noel is having a good time. The Dracula of lemon drizzle, the vampire of Victoria sponge, he has risen like warm dough from the undead.
His savior is Alison Hammond, whose arrival on The Great British Bake Off (Ch4) has been an infusion of new blood for Lord of the Goths Noel Fielding.
He enjoyed a good rapport with his previous co-hosts, Matt Lucas and Sandi Toksvig, both comedians, but with very different styles. But La Hammond is not stand-up. She’s an old-fashioned television personality.
Judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith don’t quite seem to know what to make of Alison yet. She overwhelms them. But her sheer energy and vim make Noel laugh, and that gives this series, the 14th, new impetus.
Alison is a cuddler. She’s loud, too: When she shouted “Bake” in a Jamaican accent to launch the first challenge, the canvas walls of the tent shook to the echo.
THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF: Judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith don’t seem quite sure what to make of Alison yet. She overwhelms them. But her sheer energy and vim make Noel laugh, and that gives this series, the 14th, new impetus.
And because she’s a professional presenter and not a prankster, she doesn’t feel the need to give out one-liners or get her share of the laughs. That gives Noel the freedom to be as wacky and surreal as he wants. . . for example, by announcing that he has a tattoo of 2018 winner Rahul Mandal on his backside, or by inviting little Saku (whose day job is as an intelligence analyst) to sit on his shoulders.
If punchlines go astray, he doesn’t have to worry. There’s no Matt or Sandi behind him, ready to steal the laughs. The only competition is on the board, and this year it’s intense.
During the Showstopper round, with ‘illusion pastries’, the participants created banquets of cookies. One made a steak pie and chips, with chocolate biscuits as the meat flowed from a shortbread dough, dripping with hazelnut and orange ganache.
There was a cheese board, a charcuterie platter, sandwiches and ice cream, pizza, cheese and onion patties and chicken katsu, all made into biscuits. The tour de force was a multi-tiered hamburger, with meat patties made from Florentines, and orange shortbread fingers that looked anywhere in the world like Heston Blumenthal’s famous triple-fried fries.
One baker faced a series of disasters: we’re still in the opening stages, where the judges are picking the stragglers. The editing is as sharp as ever, with the cameras always ready to capture fear and disappointment behind the beaming smiles.
Tasha, who earned a Hollywood handshake for her malted chocolate chip cookies in the first round, was almost in tears in the second round as her custard creams softened, “without much bite,” sighed Prue.
SECRETS OF OUR UNIVERSE: The food in space isn’t exactly out of this world, astronaut Tim Peake revealed in the final part of his excellent Secrets Of Our Universe. But during his six months on the International Space Station, he did manage to enjoy a few cookies, including Strawberry Shortcake, sent via an unmanned rocket.
If they were soggy, it was hardly Tasha’s fault; outside the tent a violent thunderstorm raged. But there’s nothing soggy about this year’s Bake Off. It’s a sweet feast, with perfectly piped icing.
The food in space is not exactly of this world, astronaut Tim Peake revealed in the final part of his excellent Secrets Of Our Universe (Chapter 5). But during his six months on the International Space Station, he did manage to enjoy a few cookies, including strawberry shortcake, sent via an unmanned rocket. That must be the most expensive bicycle in history.
Tim also enjoyed meals prepared by Heston himself, including a bacon sarnie. However, most of the time it was vacuum packed and rehydrated. It is difficult to imagine anything less seductive than tea, boiled in a sealed container with milk powder and sucked through a straw.
This was a fascinating look at life in orbit, where the sun rises sixteen times a day and weightless scientists doze with their sleeping bags strapped to the walls. Thanks to gravity, they can even hang upside down. . . like vampires.