Bake Off: The Professionals; Storyville; Dispatches

“The show was full of overpowering good cheer. With a theme of the Roaring Twenties, there was much tootling ragtime music, Ellie Taylor did the Charleston and judge Benoit Blin was on ebullient form… The results were works of art, reminding you that Bake Off: The Professionals does win over its daddy on one count. While it may not get the annual media blitz of The Great British Bake Off, the clone show has the expertise, which is often exquisite.”
James Jackson, The Times

“It was impossible to feel depressed while watching those mountains of sweetmeats taking shape. To a soundtrack of Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five, the chefs tackled ridiculously ambitious tableaux in sugar and pastry, most of them mouthwatering.”
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail

“Like the people working at the cutting edge of, say, nuclear physics, I understand that a master patissier’s work is incredibly difficult. It’s beyond my understanding, and therefore somewhat frightening. The final was a thrill, even if I remain none the wiser re agar-agar.”
Emily Watkins, The i

“The history of Michael Weitz was absorbing in itself, but more unusual was hearing his descendants’ views. It was brave of them to wrestle with their feelings on camera. Suffice to say, there were so many points of debate cracked open in this elegantly composed film, I can only urge you to seek it out on iPlayer.”
James Jackson, The Times

“While the programme may feel like a 15-minute news report with a 45-minute preamble, that context is fascinating. The earlier section is a pithy summary of modern Sri Lankan politics, telling a tale of how authoritarians wield power, the lengths they will go to when that power is challenged, and how they lay dormant in the aftermath of apparent defeat, waiting to return.”
Jack Seale, The Guardian