The new series of The Great British Bake Off (BBC One, Wednesday, 8pm) has begun and already you can spot who's likely to win or lose.

From the start, the losers always have the air of imperfection about them, like jam with mould or custard that's curdled.

The winners are also obvious; they have a glint and sheen, like perfect icing.

One of the potential winners is Martha, who is 17 and the youngest ever baker to take part in the show, but the most interesting contestants were Iain and Richard, who both work in the construction industry, and Norman, a former merchant navy seaman from Aberdeenshire.

Have men like them always baked or has The Great British Bake Off liberated them to take it up, or at least admit in public that they do it?

Whatever the explanation, the men obviously still felt some need to prove that baking is not at all girly and that making a croque-en-bouche with caramel twirls, sugared almonds and a light dusting of caster sugar is MANLY.

Builder Richard iced his cake like he was spreading plaster on a wall while Norman described his Black Forest gateau as bold, fat and big, and said that after the show he would be drinking PINTS. FOR MEN.

There was really no need for them to behave this way, though, because one of the great joys of The Great British Bake Off is that it challenges boring, traditional ideas of masculinity.

The other joy is the presenting team of Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins whose dialogue is fruity, jammy, gooey and silly.

Sue also loves a double entendre and the time it took for the first one to appear in the first episode was a record even for Bake Off: 58 seconds.

Even more delightful are the judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood, who are different but compatible. Mary is regal, Paul is real; Mary is Lady Penelope, Paul is Parker.

Mary also looks like she would have staff to do all the baking for her and yet she has an eager, hands-on, lick-your-fingers love for it.

She also pointed out that she has been baking for a very, very long time.

Fact: the cakes that King Alfred burned were from a Mary Berry recipe.

My only fear, amid all this delight, is that the programme's move from BBC Two to BBC One and the fact that there is now a spin-off programme, The Great British Bake Off: An Extra Slice (BBC Two, Friday, 9pm) is a sign that the BBC is guilty of that old familiar trick of taking a format that works and squeezing and squeezing it, like a piping bag, until every last drop of life and excitement has been drained from it and then making more programmes any way.

The secret with a good format is not to over-do it.

The Great British Bake Off isn't at that point yet and does still carry the joy of seeing people doing something that you can't do.

There is also the chance to indulge in swiss-roll schadenfreude, which is the particular joy of seeing someone trying to roll sponge and getting it wrong. Cracks. Leaky filling. Almond flakes everywhere. What a truly wonderful programme this is.