Review: Masterchef, BBC1 (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Review: Masterchef, BBC1

3:00pm Friday 20th January 2012 in Programme reviews By John Anson, Features editor

WELL that’s the nightly viewing sorted for the forseeable future.

Yes, the utterly compelling Masterchef is back with its collection of amateur eccentrics, would-be wonders and nervous wrecks.

The celebrity and professional spin-offs of the show show are all well and good, but this is the real deal.

Last year’s final, won by the American genius Tim, was one of the most enthralling hours on TV all year.

And the signs are good that this year’s series will not let us down.

The concept behind Masterchef is so basic it shouldn’t really work as a TV show at all.

Get a bunch of amateur cooks to cook things and pick a winner. But that would be to ignore the beautiful simplicity of it — and the great way it’s filmed — creating an hour of genuine drama.

Forget The X Factor and its hyped-up back stories. Simon Cowell could do worse than look at how Masterchef just lets its contestants be themselves — that’s how you get the viewers.

Already we’ve got plasterer Tim who cooks like a dream, and the barking astro-physicist Aki who did the impossible and made judge John Torode blush.

“I’ve never seen such a mess,” he said of her workstation.

“You should see my room,” came the reply, causing the normally ebullliant Aussie to colour up like a raspberry coulis.

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