The Great British Bake Off

The competition kicks off with cake in the Cotswolds, then moves to Scotland to tackle biscuit baking, then Sandwich in Kent for bread, Bakewell in Derbyshire for puddings, Mousehole in Cornwall for the pastry challenges, and London for the grand final. Judging the 10 competing bakers are renowned baking writer Mary Berry and professional baker Paul Hollywood; presenting the show are Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, who trace the very particular history of British baking by visiting local baking landmarks and discovering why people bake what they bake today.

The eight bakers who made it through the first round head to Scone Palace near Perth to make biscuits and teatime treats. Over two days the home bakers are set three increasingly difficult challenges as they bake their signature biscuits, attempt many a baker's nemesis - scones - and finally a tower of petit fours with meringues, choux pastry and macaroons. Mel and Sue find out how the digestive became Britain's favourite biscuit; ask what's so Scottish about shortbread and why Sir Ranulph Fiennes has the world's most expensive biscuit.

In the shadow of Sarre Windmill, the bakers will be kneading, proving and knocking back their dough under the watchful eye of baking writer Mary Berry and master baker Paul Hollywood. And as they battle it out to produce the perfect loaf, Mel and Sue taste Britain's earliest bread roll, find out what happened to bread during the Industrial Revolution and relate the hidden history of the sandwich. Making bread is an ancient skill. Which of the bakers will best cope with the pressure and who will be the one who has to leave the Bake Off?

The remaining five bakers travel to Bakewell in Derbyshire. They must reinvent an often-neglected British classic - the pudding. There are sticky toffee puds, peach and blueberry 'boy bait', rhubarb and orange betty and a cherry queen of puddings. The surprise bake set by judges Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry tests the bakers' ability to cope with pressure. Can the bakers rise to the occasion? As the puds go in the oven, Mel and Sue find out how and why puddings changed from meat to sweet, visit the birthplace of school puddings and discover how puddings helped change Britain's image overseas.

The travelling marquee pitches up in the Cornish village of Mousehole, and it's time for the bakers to get to grips with the most difficult of all baking skills - pastry. They bake their own versions of hearty British pies, get down to details with exquisite pastry canapés, and take a crash-course in crimping for this week's surprise bake. Mel and Sue will be find out that Britain's earliest pies really were humble, how pastry became an art form and how pies used to have a more sinister side. Judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood decide who will be the final three to go through to the final.

It's the Grand Final and the three surviving contestants face their biggest challenge yet - baking for the Bake Off's afternoon tea party at Fulham Palace in London. The pressure on the bakers is even greater, as they must bake not only for Judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood, but also friends, family and former Bake Off contestants. Among their offerings are miniature ginger, mint and blackberry cakes, quiches with red pepper chutney, raspberry ripple choux buns and lemon scones with passion fruit curd. Mel and Sue can only present the Bake Off trophy to one. Who will it be?