Mel Giedroyc

Giedroyc's original Bake Off partnership with Sue Perkins helped establish a tone in which amateur enthusiasm mattered as much as the result. Their accounts of resisting a harsher approach to distressed contestants are especially revealing: kindness was something to defend, not simply a decorative smile. Watch the early series for the mixture of daft wordplay and attentiveness around the benches. The achievement belongs to a partnership and a wider team, but her warmth is a substantial part of its appeal.