Nigella Lawson’s first Bake Off episode is one of the most disastrous openers ever

When the Great British Bake Off should be crumbling after 17 seasons, Nigella Lawson is making Channel 4’s crown jewel fresher than ever.

The Domestic Goddess is easily the best thing that could ever have happened to Bake Off; the equivalent of if Madonna replaced Sharon Osbourne on The X Factor – an impossibility producers can only dream of.

And from the very first episode it’s clear to see she is the lifeline Bake Off needed to ensure it could easily have another decade or more in it yet.

Even if her arrival is disastrous for the actual bakers themselves.

This year’s bunch of aspiring chefs are typically wonderful from the get-go; each one could have been plucked from a Richard Curtis movie in that traditional adorable Bake Off fashion we’ve become accustomed to.

While Bake Off has struggled to perfect its recipe for the judges and hosts through the years, its winning formula for casting contestants is unrivalled.

Early front-runners become abundantly clear from the very first challenge, which – to mark Nigella’s arrival – pays nod to her infamous Guinness cake. The 12 bakers must impress with their take on a stout cake, which proves to be a colossal recipe for disaster.

Sign up to Switched On, Metro’s new TV newsletter

Hiya! I’m Sabrina Barr and I’m Metro’s TV editor.

I have spent almost five years at Metro covering all corners of the TV world, and I’m now sharing all my expert insights in my brand new newsletter, Switched On.

From recommendations for your next binge-watch on Netflix to jaw-dropping exclusive interviews with the planet’s biggest stars, sign up to get plugged into the week’s biggest TV moments. 

The first edition arrives in your inbox on Friday September 11.

Sign up now

A perfectly baked cake is accidentally thrown to the floor in ruins; others resemble a puddle more than a pudding, the contestants hysterically rattled by the culinary queen’s signature design.

During the screening of Nigella’s first Bake Off, Paul Hollywood revealed that her presence alone wreaked havoc on the bakers’ nerves. If she told one chef their pastry needed more salt, suddenly everyone’s next dish would contain more salt than a bucket of KFC.

She may be too iconic for the bakers to keep their cool, but she has given Bake Off a new lease of life that absolutely no one else possibly could.

Her debut feels more like a perfectly executed introduction – a nod to her unrivalled legacy – than a sycophantic celebration of her arrival. Despite being the biggest thing to happen to Bake Off, the brightest stars are still the contestants themselves.

Immediate highlights include hairdresser Tom, whose quick wit is as sharp as his scissors. Then there’s 67-year-old Gary, who ticks every box required for a Bake Off contestant: discovered baking late in life when he bought a cookbook on a whim, he spends his days tending to the many animals he shares with his wife on his country farm. He’s adorable, and really bloody good.

Molly is an accessibility co-ordinator, working for a disability charity, and is herself in a wheelchair. Without giving too much away, she shows more grit and resilience

than I ever thought possible just hours into her very first bake.

I’m not sure I have high hopes for Danni’s longevity in the tent, but she’s easily one of its greatest characters. NHS worker Connie, meanwhile, whose speciality is packing cakes with rum and wine, must be protected at all costs.

But perhaps what’s more refreshing than any of the cast or judges, old or new, is Bake Off throwing out the long-standing rule book for a new take on challenges that feel genuinely exciting.

For the first technical challenge of the series, bakers are tasked with tackling another Nigella classic: her coffee and walnut cake. Only, breaking with tradition, the only instruction they’re given is an elaborate sketch of said three-tiered coffee and walnut cake.

Bake Off instantly feels bolder than it has for a very long time, without clutching at straws like the diabolically ill-conceived Mexican Week or Japan Week. With just the slightest tweak of the technical, the show feels so invigorated.

Hopefully, it’s a sign of other simple but effective ideas yet to come throughout this chapter of Bake Off, which really is a masterclass of reinvention without having to reinvent much at all.

It’s been years since Bake Off felt this perfectly balanced – the chemistry of its leading cast, judges and hosts finally clicking.

Watching Nigella seamlessly play her role and blend in with Paul, Alison and Noel is actually a stark reminder of how much has been missing since the BBC years with Bake Off titans Mel, Sue and Mary Berry.

Of course Nigella was always going to be a masterstroke on paper – the pedigree, the warmth, the obvious fit with everything Bake Off stands for.

But few could have imagined quite how impressively she’s slotted into a tent that’s spent years struggling to find its rhythm.

Bake Off may not have needed a comeback, but it is in the best shape it’s been in for the entire time it’s been on Channel 4.

Amen, Nigella Lawson.

Great British Bake Off returns to Channel 4 on September 22.