Mary Berry's Foolproof Cooking, BBC2 - TV review: A show as old school as an Enid Blyton story and all the better for it

Berry fashion watchers would have been disappointed early on to see her in the sloany-women-of-a-certain-age's uniform of choice: a shirt tucked into belted jeans

Pincer movement: simple dishes from Mary Berry in ‘Foolproof Cooking’

Imagine being in Mary Berry's posse. A perfectly coiffed circle where, going on this new series, the biggest problem one can face in a day is whether the meat in the beef Wellington is the right shade of pink. Despite trying to persuade us that a roast vegetable tart was terribly modern, this was a cookery show that could have been from any time in the past 30 years – if it wasn't for the presence of a spiralizer.

With hindsight, perhaps the bulbous courgette perhaps wasn't the best choice of vegetable to zoom in on. But anyone who has watched Berry on Bake-Off will know that she doesn't let potential innuendo put her off trying to educate cookery novices. “Do you know, it's a bit like sharpening a pencil,” she said, like an Enid Blyton hockey captain trying out an innovative new stick for the first time. Courgetti aside, these weren't faddy, low-calorie recipes. There was full-fat soft cheese and lots of cream and all seemed doable dishes.

The tips were genuinely useful, if not groundbreaking. How many of us will be coating veg in oil using the plastic bag method from now? Berry's presenting style can be a little stiff-feeling but when she loses her poised veneer a little, like when she admitted to having a “nervous moment” as she rolled out puff pastry, she is a natural teacher.

Berry fashion watchers would have been disappointed early on to see her in the sloany-women-of-a-certain-age's uniform of choice: a shirt tucked into belted jeans. But later, on a trip to Rules, the go-to restaurant for aristo trysts in Downton Abbey, she was back in a natty jacket reminiscing about the “good old days” with her gal pals. If you'd tuned into this post-spiralizer, you would never have known they'd gone away.