Celebs sign up for Bake Off Comic Relief special

Celebrities will try to perfect their pastry and sort out their sponges under the watchful eye of Great British Bake Off's Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood in a ,a href="http://www.comicrelief.com/" target="_blank">special Comic Relief version. The 16 amateur cooks, who include Duncan Bannatyne, Bob Mortimer, Ellie Simmonds, Jo Brand, Kirsty Wark and Claudia Winkleman, will compete against each other over four nights later this month in a bid to inspire the nation to get baking and sell their cakes to raise money for good causes. TV host Claudia said she was 'obsessed with baking'. She said: "I often cover the kitchen in flour and I have three whisks. I have only ever made two things - a Victoria sponge and chocolate cookies. It turns out the bake-off is about other things too. I had the most brilliant time and have baked more since taking part. But I refuse to try pastry, I can't even discuss it." The Great Comic Relief Bake Off starts on BBC Two on Monday, January 21 and will run over four consecutive nights. The regular version of the show, presented by Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, has been a surprise hit, with more than seven million people tuning in to watch last year's final.

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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.