the times | Wednesday September 16 2020 1GT 9

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can imagine stolen glances and tense

stares. Yet after a few days I think a

few disasters may have united them.

Such intense socialising means that

this year’s bakers and presenters may

be closer than ever. Still, the thought

of having to return to a hotel room

with the day’s worries every day for six

weeks is quite an ask. Over lockdown

we have all experienced the feeling of

being distant from loved ones. But to

be marooned for six weeks in a

separate world is quite a trial.

The producers have clearly gone

to great lengths to mitigate these

potential downsides. Apparently,

everyone on the show was invited to

“bubble” with limited loved ones, if

those loved ones remained for the

duration of the shoot. Prue brought

along her spaniels, while Noel invited

his pregnant girlfriend.

But there will probably have been

one casualty. As with everyone whose

wedding has been scaled down from

a full-blown banquet to a distanced

family affair, the final garden party

has no doubt been filmed as a rather

more exclusive gathering. Once each

baker has exited the Bake Off tent,

the likelihood of returning for the

crowning bash this year seems slim.

This makes me hope that they have

still been able to recreate the dynamic

that this show thrives on. In Covid-

free times, as each week passed, we

would of course lose a baker. In week

eight I went merrily on my way. But

there are some friendships that can

only truly be forged over a deflated

pavlova or a bowl of curdled egg. I was

safe in the knowledge that I would

return to celebrate at the final.

Nevertheless, I’m sure this year’s

bunch have had just as much fun as

we did. After all, for many people,

baking has been an integral part of

lockdown life. The news that Bake Off

has been able to go ahead is not just

a credit to the production team, but a

tonic in which millions can indulge.

Perhaps the next few weeks might not

be so bad after all.

jokes, there is much

more to Bake Off than

meets the eye, even

without Covid

precautions.

I was sitting in a

lecture theatre at

Durham University

listening dutifully to

the literary critic Terry

Eagleton when I got

the call in early 2019.

My phone had rung

twice silently, but the

third time I had unknowingly flicked

the “silent” switch in my pocket. The

theme to Gardener’s World (it’s the

perfect ringtone) blared out as I

moved at a speed hitherto unseen

in a lecture theatre before or since

and dived out of the room.

Once you get the phone call saying

you’re on, you embark on a six-month

journey of secrecy and anticipation.

You lie, you deceive, you hoodwink,

you mislead. And that’s just with your

grandparents. You wait until that day

in summer when you can heave a sigh

of relief and let everyone know your

news. It is an all-encompassing whirl

of baked goods, family secrets and, in

my case, lying to a room full of

journalists while I interned at this

newspaper.

To have to

embark on that

journey in a

Covid-free

world is rather

testing. But to

have to do so while a

deadly pandemic decides to wreak

havoc, putting the experience in

jeopardy — that’s something else.

Weeks of not knowing whether this

wonderful opportunity would be

snatched from you? Of having to

fight your way through the aisles

to wrestle the last remaining pack

of flour from the grasp of an

infant? To my shame, I know that I

went through more than 30kg of flour

during the filming period. During

parts of lockdown you would have

been lucky to nab even one bag.

Of course, without the weekday

breaks between filming there would be

little to relieve the pressure cooker

that the set of a huge TV show — let

alone a televised contest — can

become. When I was on, any angst or

hysteria in the tent (you try breaking a

chapel made from royal icing and not

panicking) would be resolved in the

knowledge that we would go home to

our support networks and watch their

puzzled faces as we wept to them over

an underbaked tart. But this year the

bakers are marooned, away from their

families for six weeks, and as such I

suspect the intensity in the tent may

be quite apparent.

Last year we bakers would gather for

drinks in the evening between filming

days. The bakers this series were, of

course, with the crew and the

presenters all the time. I doubt that

weeks of consecutive nights drinking

would do much for the show’s quality,

never mind that of the cakes, so

perhaps it’s no surprise that there have

been reports of Prue Leith hosting a

flower-arranging workshop, Paul

Hollywood organising a pizza night

and Matt Lucas, Noel Fielding’s new

co-host, compering an evening of

bingo for everyone. Butlins, take note.

I always said that to find 12 people

from all corners of the country,

place them in a sweltering tent

together for weeks on end and have

them get along is, to an outside

viewer, a seemingly mammoth task.

This year in particular, when all

of their practising had to be done

together on location instead of their

respective home kitchens, you would

think that tensions would run to

boiling point.

There were times in my kitchen

last year when, after hours of thought

and deliberation, I would survey

the wreckage I had created and be

thankful that only I would be privy to

such carnage. But to have to practise

alongside your fellow bakers? At first I

Bake Off in a bio-secure bubble?

‘It will be mindblowingly full-on’

Covid tests, pizza

nights — and

no trips home.

Former contestant

Henry Bird on a

series like no other

I

n a world of forest fires, Covid

spikes and half of the world’s

species facing imminent

extinction, there is one gleam of

light shining through. Thanks to

UV cleansing, deadly virus scares

and self-contained biospheres,

this year’s series of The Great

British Bake Off may outshine the new

Bond film when it comes to drama,

but it has defied the odds and is back.

Kieran Smith, the show’s

executive producer, has

said: “So many people rely

on Bake Off for work that

we knew we had to work

out a plan.” The team at

Love Productions have

pulled off a small miracle

in getting this new series

filmed. While the

super-rich were jetting off

to their underground

disaster bunkers and

concrete mountain retreats,

who would have guessed

that one of the safest places

in the country would have

been a midsized marquee in

the Essex countryside?

When I appeared on the programme

last year it was filmed on weekends

only and we returned home between

shoots. This time the contestants,

presenters and crew spent six weeks

on site in a self-contained “biosphere”

at Down Hall Hotel. Extra

accommodation had to be built in the

car park and golf buggies were used to

cart people around. The contestants,

presenters and crew were allowed in

only after nine days in isolation,

during which time they were tested

for coronavirus three times. Packets

of flour were cleansed with ultraviolet

light and anything coming in and

out of the Bake Off bubble, including

luggage and food deliveries, had to

be deep-cleaned.

As a result, hugging, crying on

shoulders, handshakes, the tasting

of fellow bakers’ creations —

the staples of the show — will

all be on display. If only two

of this year’s bakers were

engaged, they would have

had a cracking wedding venue

compared with the rest of the

country’s betrothed.

On the other hand, it will

have been a mindblowingly

full-on experience for the

contestants. While on screen

it appears the very epitome of

lighthearted, wholesome family

entertainment, with its candy-

coloured cakes and Carry On-style

Top: this year’s

Bake Off contestants.

Above: Matt Lucas,

Paul Hollywood and

Prue Leith. Below:

Henry Bird

C4/LOVE PRODUCTIOSN/PA; KATIE WILSON FOR THE TIMES

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