Great British Bake Off: Shropshire's former contestant Diana Beard will be watching
Ready, set, bake – the Great British Bake Off is back for its seventh series and looks set to put the pressure on another cast of contestants.
Shropshire's own former contestant, Diana Beard, said she will be settling down to watch as it kicks off with Cake Week in the first episode tonight.
The 71-year-old grandmother, of Alkington near Whitchurch, said: "I really do need to watch it because people are already talking about it.
"It is such a good formula, but I don't know what it is that makes it so popular, I guess it is the characters that they have that make it so good.
"I think the casting producer has to be admired when she picks all these people.
"That is what keeps the interest – people are looking for someone from their area, or someone they like.
"I think the young have more interest in it now, not the old, which has got to be good if it gets them baking," she said.
This year, along with the traditional technical challenges and show stopper briefs, judge Mary Berry has promised some twists in the series with the difficulty expected to be greater than ever, including Batter Week.
This year will also see 11 weeks of baking as the show runs all the way up to the beginning of November – one more episode than last year.
Mrs Beard competed in 2014's Bake Off, and said she was thrilled with last year's winner, stay-at-home mum Nadiya Jamir Hussain.
This year, she's keeping her eyes peeled for the contestant who performs best in tackling the early challenges.
She said: "I like to see how they interpret a show stopper – I do like the show stoppers and how they see the brief. Mary and Paul, they have to be focusing on different things all the time because when all the contestants are fairly equal it must be hard – someone has to go.
"This year they all seem pretty professional, the contestants. They all seem very good. We will have to wait with bated breath to see, I always think it is bread week that sorts the men from the boys.
"I think that usually, the star baker of bread week nearly always makes it to the final. It really is a skill. I think it is much more difficult than the cakes, so that'll be the week I watch closest."
The first episode will be tonight at 8pm on BBC One.
