Victoria Pendleton among celebrity Great British Bake Off stars

Olympic champion cyclist Victoria Pendleton is taking part in a special Bake Off series, along with actress Jane Horrocks and impressionist Alistair McGowan.

They're among 16 stars aiming to rise to the challenge, who also include Dancing In Ice judge Jason Gardiner, Desert Island Discs host Kirsty Young and Saturdays singer Rochelle Humes.

The kitchen hopefuls will be seen in four programmes for The Great Sport Relief Bake Off to be screened later this month on BBC Two with four taking part each night.

Victoria's fellow Olympian Greg Rutherford is also in the series along with her 2012 Strictly Come Dancing co-competitor Michael Vaughan, under the watchful eyes of judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood.

Others taking part are singers Michael Ball and Jamelia, actresses Doon Mackichan and Samantha Bond, the former Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton and Bonnie Wright, who played Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter films.

Completing the line-up are writer and broadcaster Emma Freud - wife of Comic Relief boss Richard Curtis - and Johnny Vaughan.

The shows, featuring signature, technical and showstopper dishes, will be screened over four consecutive evenings from Monday, January 13, at the end of which a star baker will be crowned.

Regular presenter Sue Perkins will be without her usual sidekick Mel Giedroyc, but will be joined by guest hosts Omid Djalili, Ed Byrne and Jo Brand.

The series will also follow Olympic gold-winning boxer Nicola Adams as she visits Comic Relief-funded projects in South Africa.

Helen Skelton admitted she is 'absolutely rubbish at baking'.

She said: "All my friends and family laugh at anything I do in the kitchen, so I thought this might be a chance to redeem myself. I wished I'd practised more beforehand.

"When they said to me 'you've got to make a pizza' I thought they meant just put the toppings on a pizza - I didn't realise they meant make the dough and everything."

The fundraising Sport Relief weekend takes place from March 21 to 23 with members of the public invited to run, swim or cycle in the Sainsbury's Sport Relief Games, with events at the former Olympic venue in east London, now renamed Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Those interested can visit sportrelief.com for entry details.

 

Patrick McLennan

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.