The BBC has inexplicably solved the problem of this vacuum even without the theme to Chariots of Fire playing on a constant loop.
Last night saw the beginning of three new series, The Great British Bake Off (BBC2, 8pm), Accused (BBC1, 9pm) and Bad Education (BBC3, 10pm).
The Great British Bake Off (GBBO) has to be one of my favourite TV shows of all time. There’s something ridiculously entertaining about watching people panic over soggy bottoms, piping disasters, and mix ups over ingredients that look the same (ie swapping sugar for salt by accident). It’s now back for a third season and in predictable BBC fashion there’s a new crop of 12 politically correct contestants from all walks of life. These include The Vicar’s Wife (Sarah-Jayne), The New Edd Kimber – the winner of the first series – (James), The Sweet Old Man (Brendan), The Posh Irritating One (Victoria) and The Fake Nervous One (Cathryn). All 12 are guided by the judges: Britain’s surrogate grandmother and baking goddess, Mary Berry (I’m not ashamed to admit I named my KitchenAid after her) and the silver fox and inspiration for many an innuendo, Paul Hollywood. Add to that the fabulous Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc, the Ant and Dec of GBBO, and you’re in for a treat of a show.
The programme kicked off with the signature bake where the contestants produced an upside down cake (or as Mel said, just known as ‘cake’ in Australia). In true GBBO fashion, they turned out to be seriously odd concoctions, such as Stuart’s tomato creation – which ended up just being a cake topped with a layer of tomato. Yummy. The technical challenge (where each contestant is given the same ingredients, time slot, and recipe for a particular bake) for this episode was Paul Hollywood’s rum baba. Disaster struck as Natasha boiled her babas to submission in a bain marie; and John mistook sugar for salt while greasing and dusting his tins so his rum babas were inedible. Ridiculous, but so addictive to watch…
The final challenge – the show stopper – let the bakers impress the judges for a final time with a cake that contained a surprise design on the inside. They were inventive, but Victoria (stuck up and already annoying) took it a step further and produced a cake in the shape of a pie using a “common” nursery rhyme (I’d never heard of it) as inspiration. Yes it was good, but how on Earth is she going to build on that for future shows?! Dislike her massively already…
It’s textbook GBBO (minus the provocative squirrels): you can tweet along with every mishap and it’s enough to make me want to get my bunting out (exactly the same as the one decorating the tents, obviously bought deliberately) and bake forever more. Roll on next Tuesday.
There was just enough time to get a cup of tea before switching over to BBC1 for Accused. I’d seen the adverts featuring unashamed northerner Sean Bean in drag and thought nothing of it, dismissing it as absurd and assuming it’d be part of a comedy programme. After all, why would Boromir from Lord of the Rings be tottering round in heels and applying make-up unless it were in jest? How wrong I was. Accused blew me away: it was completely unexpected, thought-provoking, and like nothing I’d ever seen before. It’s Jimmy McGovern’s second series of the crime and punishment drama, and having seen this episode I’m annoyed I didn’t see the first series.
This episode focused on transvestite college teacher Simon (Sean Bean) who transforms into Tracie (blonde wig, glossy red nails and short, tight dresses) on an evening to trail Manchester’s bars and clubs. It’s on a particular night out that he meets white van man Tony (Stephen Graham) and the two embark on a love affair with devastating consequences. You understandably know the ending before you’re properly introduced to the characters: from the first scene you know Simon’s going to end up in court, but it’s the journey getting there that is so surprising. McGovern and co-writer Shaun Duggan have created a compelling and spell-binding script, intertwining the mystery of Tracie’s lifestyle with the mundane nature of Simon’s (LOVED the use of Lady of Shallot in his lessons). You can’t help but be utterly swept up in the tragic relationship: made convincing by bewitching performances from Bean and Graham. If you didn’t see it then I’d recommend iPlayer-ing it – it should definitely not be missed.
Bad Education provided a complete change of pace on BBC3. Jack Whitehall once again plays a version of himself, this time as a hapless teacher. In this episode highlights included Whitehall losing his shoes to a school bully and having to suffer the humiliation of wearing purple crocs from lost property (total nightmare – I could think of nothing worse than having to wear crocs); and teaching Pearl Harbour by assigning pupils characters from the film. It’s typical Jack Whitehall: totally hilarious, full of constant (sometimes inappropriate) jokes, predictable characters and a posh lead. However, with the most successful figures for an opening comedy show on BBC3, then he must be doing something right!
Tuesday nights are obviously going to be one of the best nights of the week at this rate, and if the BBC montages (is it just me, or does the BBC really, REALLY excel at doing montages?) of new TV shows are anything to go by, then I’m going to be glued to the BBC for the rest of the summer and stuck on iPlayer throughout the autumn. Job well done, BBC.
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