Great British Bake Off series 5 preview: The most amusing and likable contestants yet

As ever, it’s the creativity and skill of the contestants which impresses most

The Great British Bake Off 2014 contestants (BBC)

“There are two ways to make a Swiss Roll,” says co-presenter Sue Perkins in tonight’s first episode of the fourth series of The Great British Bake Off.

I hope it’s not spoiling anything to reveal that most contestants went for the method which didn’t involve pushing Roger Federer down a hill.

GBBO makes no apologies for its tweeness or its terrible puns, but detractors sometimes forget that these are not the only ingredients in the show’s success.

As ever, it’s the creativity and sheer skill of the contestants which impresses most and this year’s batch may be the most amusing and instantly likable yet.

They range in age from youngest-ever-contestant Martha,17, to 69-year-old Diana, a W.I member and baking veteran of 60 years.

Early contenders for star bake include cool cucumber Nancy from Hull whose cut-throat baking ambition manifests in a mini-guillotine for cakes and Richard the builder, who transfers his talent for construction to cake-baking.

Neither age nor experience is any indication of aptitude however, as 30 brand new baking challenges soon begin to sort the dedicated from the dilettantes.

Who’d have thought watching a sponge rolled on baking parchment could be an exercise in cinematic suspense?