Radio Times: Review by:; Alison Graham

Pay attention, “Hollywomen”, you’ll need to lie down on your antique fainting couches to catch your breath because Paul Hollywood is very butch in the first of three Great British Bake Off specials.

He spends most of this hour getting breathless after pummelling dough, and even mumsy Mary Berry seems a tiny bit smitten: “You are extremely strong and have very good arms,” she says, Lizzie Bennet to his Mr Darcy, as Hollywood thumps the life into the first of the fiendish technical challenges, rum babas. Naturally, they turn out as they are meant to, like alcohol-soaked cushions for boozy fairies.

Berry and Hollywood are the perfect double act, joshing, funny and affectionate as they work seamlessly together on Hollywood’s plaited loaf and Berry’s luxuriant treacle tart, challenges faced by this year’s
Bake Off contestants. So just sit back and watch artists at work. Continues
on Wednesday.

About this programme

Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry take over the Bake Off tent to demonstrate how the technical challenges should be done. In the opening episode, they take viewers through every step of the first five technical recipes of the series, tackling treacle tarts, rum babas, creme caramels, hand-raised pies and Paul's infamous eight-strand plaited loaf.