Summer is a time for extraordinary TV, and this summer, one thing has got millions of us sitting down to watch. No, we’re not talking about the Olympics. The brilliant broadcasting we’re focused on now is – what else? – the Great British Bake Off.

Bake Off’s back for another year after a half-decade of cult success meaning that Paul, Mary and an affable group of ‘amateur’ bakers are returning to our screens for more stellar TV. Everyone in the office is super excited. Here’s why:

Mel and Sue

National treasures threatening to edge Ant and Dec off their plinth, this pair are a delight to watch together.

Very British Drama

Where else but on our drizzly little island would an Arctic roll being relegated to the bin cause such uproar?

Innuendos

Soggy bottoms are just the start: we’re preparing ourselves for a colourful array of double entendres.

Food Porn

Try watching without wanting to hotfoot it to the newsagents for a sweet fix…one of the only times we regret the BBC’s lack of adverts.

Mary and Paul’s Good Cop/Bad Cop Routine

You know the drill: Mary’s pretty impressed but Paul isn’t a fan of the crumb. It’s a tried and tested formula that we love to watch, no matter how many times we’ve seen it play out before.

Nostalgia

The astonishing Britishness of it all stirs something deeply nostalgic inside us. There’s something impossible to resist about the whole gazebo setting and disproportionate disappointment felt when a cake doesn’t rise quite right.