Paul Hollywood by A.S. Dagnell

Author:A.S. Dagnell [A S Dagnell]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781782198093
Publisher: John Blake Publishing
Published: 2013-11-27T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9

Greatest Judging Duo in History

It seemed the BBC had struck on a winning formula with The Great British Bake Off. The show’s ratings proved that it was tapping into something that was in vogue the length and breadth of the country. Baking was now back in fashion and viewers – young and old, male and female – were all tuning in on a weekly basis to see what the competitors would dream up to help keep their place in the show for another week and edge closer towards that all-important final. Producers, BBC channel chiefs and, of course, viewers couldn’t have been happier with what they were watching on their screens every week. It was the televisual equivalent of comfort food – inoffensive and warm viewing, fit for all the family.

But undoubtedly, the competition and how well the contestants were doing were not the only reasons why viewers were eagerly tuning in, week after week. Regardless of the impressive and creative baking being undertaken on screen, and the competitiveness between the contestants, one other very special ingredient was proving to be a significant factor why the show was such a success. It was the special bond between Paul and his co-judge Mary Berry that was propelling Bake Off to new heights in terms of its popularity. Viewers and TV critics alike lapped up the unlikely pairing’s on-screen chemistry, which was plain for all to see. On paper it should never have worked: the rough and ready Northerner who had learnt his trade as a master baker working in bakeries in and around the Wirral versus the prim and proper doyenne of baking from another generation whose celebrity was cemented by her book sales in the millions and incredibly diverse range of products with an annual turnover of more than a million pounds. But for some reason it did work. Britain, it seemed, couldn’t get enough of this dynamic duo.

As one astute critic in the Guardian noted: ‘The success of their Bake Off pairing relies in part on these complementary differences: he the straight-talking Liverpudlian and she the kindly, rosy-cheeked grandmother we’d all like to have.’ But something about the rapport between the two had everyone in Britain transfixed. Somehow the relationship – against all the odds – just worked. And television critics went out of their way to heap praise on the newly crowned King and Queen of Baking. In fact, the Guardian newspaper boldly declared ‘Berry and Hollywood on The Great British Bake Off are the greatest judging duo in the history of reality television – it’s their brutally honest diagnostic that crowns them.’ The piece continued to shower praise on the pairing, saying: ‘Make no mistake, Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood are The Great British Bake Off’s secret weapons. They’re astoundingly good at what they do. They share a joyous enthusiasm for baking but, equally, their scorn can be unknowably ferocious.’

Other critics were quick to voice their opinions on the pair’s dynamic, with Elizabeth Day from the Observer concurring.

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