A piece of cake!

Hosts Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond on why this year's The Great British Bake Off is one of the best yet...

- CAREN CLARK, HANNAH DAVIES

The series starts with Cake Week, which sees the 12 new bakers make Swiss rolls, fondant fancies and a landscape cake for judges Dame Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood. How did they get on?

Noel This is a banger of a year! The Swiss roll was tricky, but the standard was high. They were all pretty strong. We identified some good bakers straight away!

Alison There was a moment when we were like, 'Wow, these are great bakers!'

This series, you've got some new themes – Back to School Week and Meringue Week. What can you tell us about them?