Great British Bake Off: the golden age of Paul Hollywood

Paul Hollywood: 

As the third series of The Great British Bake Off continues to lay waste to the competition, winning over viewers with its heady mix of scones, food history and well-mannered contestants screwing up their faces and peering into ovens, one thing has become painfully clear. Paul Hollywood is now a star.
He had shown promise during Bake Off's past, but this year Hollywood has blossomed into a star in his own right. He has published his own bakery book, and Twitter routinely goes into meltdown whenever he appears onscreen – users have referred to him as the Christian Grey of the baking world more than once. He's so in demand, in fact, that he apparently had to turn down Strictly Come Dancing because of filming commitments. And, while that might have disappointed a swath of Saturday teatime viewers – the ones who would like nothing more that to see him dress up in a spangly blouse and jog around to a weird Whitney Houston cover version – at least we've still got him on Bake Off.
That is undoubtedly where he's at his best. If the first series of Bake Off was about Paul Hollywood carving a niche as baking's acidic Simon Cowell figure (at least by Bake Off's meek standards), and the second was about him grimly remembering that the programme was about more than just him, then year this has been the year that everything fell into place. Make no mistake, we are now living in the golden age of Hollywood.
Hollywood's appeal has always been that he can march in and slap away the show's occasionally cloying aura of jam-tarts-and-Smeg tweeness with his brutal criticism. Present him with a sunken loaf or a soggy pie and you'll instantly feel the full force of his fiercely analytical disappointment. Not only will he tell you that you messed up, but he will explain in forensic detail how you messed up, and then look impossibly hurt and angry that you even thought about presenting it to him.
In the early days Mary Berry – a veteran baker and presenter – often found herself pushed to the sidelines, thanks to Hollywood's sheer force of personality. This year, however, all the kinks appear to have been ironed out. Hollywood and Berry have become a well-oiled double act; the Nick and Margaret of dough. Not only has Hollywood appeared to have softened his approach to the contestants slightly, but Mary Berry has grown adept to playing the put-upon partner, rolling her eyes whenever he barges in, or offering scraps of comfort to contestants when Hollywood decides to stomp all over their dreams. They have transformed into a fully fledged cake assessment team.
I wonder whether appearing on the CBBC Junior Bake Off series has helped to temper Hollywood's approach to judging. After all, not even he could maintain his uncompromising attitude in the face of an uncontrollably bawling 10-year-old who has forgotten to add baking powder to her cake mix. Junior Bake Off presented Hollywood with a chance to mix in some sweet with the sour, and this seems to have bled through to the main show to great effect.
The world is now his for the taking. People might tune into The Great British Bake Off for the ostentatious plaited loaves, but there's a pretty good chance that they stay for Paul Hollywood. And, with a solo show reportedly on the horizon, Strictly's loss is everyone else's gain.