The Great Pottery Throw Down: Temporada 1

It is a precious hour of tranquillity, this vision of talented people giving their best, taking the job seriously but without being ridiculously overinvested or intense.

...is now the programme to which Bake Off should aspire: wholesome and sweet-natured and soothing to watch.

...does a bang-up job teaching the average viewer -- who may not know a kiln from a crumb cake -- the ins and outs of handling clay and the history of the artform without being so dry as to feel like a lecture.

...dry your eyes, Bake Off, this is now TV's cosiest contest.