Mary Berry’s unusual idea for Celebrity Best Home Cook show shut down by BBC bosses

Mary Berry stars in trailer for Best Home Cook

Mary Berry, 85, is back on our screens for the first series of Celebrity Best Home Cook on BBC One, alongside Strictly host Claudia Winkleman. But with the coronavirus pandemic still causing chaos around the UK, producers have been working overtime to think of new ways they can keep all their participants and the hosts safe, with Mary revealing one of her creative ideas was shut down by TV bosses.

I brought my dog whistle in, but they didn’t seem to fancy that

Mary Berry

With the national treasure being in her 80s, specific measures need to be considered and quite like 2020, the logistical nightmare of filming amid a pandemic continues.

The cooking show follows a number of celebrities showing off their home cooking, but in order to keep Mary out of harms way the producers came up with an ingenious way of doing so while still keeping her just as involved in the show.

Giving the baker her own balcony above the kitchen, she chuckled as she praised her new studio dwelling, equipped with opera glasses she had brought in for added aesthetics.

“I think the actual social distancing was great fun, and it was a challenge,” she said.

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“You know, when I was up on the mezzanine floor and shouting down… they liked the opera glasses.”

Mary added: “It made me feel quite grand up there. Quite regal.”

But the producers did draw the line at one of her other ideas.

“I brought my dog whistle in, but they didn’t seem to fancy that,” she told Radio Times.

This year’s series will see Rachel Johnson, Shobna Gulati, Desiree Burch, Gareth Thomas, Angela Hartnett, Ed Byrne, Chris Bavin, Tom Read Wilson, Mary Berry, Ed Balls, Claudia Winkleman, Karim Zeroual, Ruth Madeley and Ferne McCann take to the kitchen for the first ever celeb series.

Elsewhere, the pastry whizz admitted she suffers with a “funny left hand” which is the aftermath of suffering with polio when she was younger.

Polio is a serious viral infection that used to be common in the UK and worldwide, which can infect a person’s spinal cord, causing paralysis of the limbs.

At the age of 13, Mary contracted the disease and spent three months in hospital in isolation.

The condition only affected the left side of her body, affecting her hand which is often mistaken for arthritis by television viewers.

Regardless, she admitted she was “let off very lightly” under the circumstances.

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The 85-year-old spoke about her diagnosis and how she would urge everyone to take the vaccine to protect themselves against the relentless disease.

“I had polio, but now almost the whole world is vaccinated against it,” she said.

“If you’re in a hospital like I was, with people in callipers, people in pain, people who weren’t going to get better – I think everyone should take the vaccine, not query it, and think of others.”

She added: “I was immensely fortunate. I only had it on my left side, and I’ve got a funny left hand.

Mary’s full interview is available to read now in Radio Times [RADIO TIMES]

“Everybody thinks I’ve got arthritis. I look a bit funny when I’m rolling pastry, but I have no other difficulties whatsoever.”

She confessed she wasn’t as good as sport as she used to be prior to the illness but remains “grateful”.

“I was let off very lightly,” she admitted.

“I’m grateful.

Mary’s full interview is available to read now in Radio Times.

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