The Great British Bake Off (BBC1, 8pm)

WITH more than 14 million viewers tuning in to see Nadiya Hussain crowned winner of last year's series, a reported 19 per cent increase in the number of people baking (according to Waitrose), and cooking essentials flying off the shelves as each episode's credits roll, Bake Off is more than just your average TV competition.

Back for a seventh series, judges Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry feel this year's batch of contestants, which includes 20-year-old Durham University student Michael Georgiou, are more nervous than ever.

"They were slower to settle down this time, because all the people that enter have watched the previous years," explains 81-year-old Berry.

And if it doesn't look like the contestants are feeling the pressure, her co-judge is only too happy to help.

"About three or four programmes in, I played the theme music for Bake Off on my phone," he says with a chuckle. "So as they walk in the tent, I play it and it freaks them out. It suddenly dawns on them where they actually are."

There are no shortcuts to curry favour though.

"The contestants always look at what recipes both of us have done, because they think it will favour them in the judging," says Berry resolutely. "But it doesn't."

Jittery as the bakers are, comedy is in ready supply, courtesy of in-tent hosts Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc's rapid-fire innuendos.

"The first challenge we did, the first thing out of Mary's mouth was, 'Nice crack'," recalls Wallasey-born Hollywood, creasing up. "That set the tone. It was hilarious."

"I have real trouble," adds Berry. "This goes on the whole time. I try and gather them up but all three encourage each other. I try to keep them all level and say, 'Come on, let's get on with the job'."

Neither host seems distracted by all the tempting treats lying around the tent, either.

"No training, no gym, no anything," notes Berry. "I walk, I play tennis and I do watch what I eat. I eat all the things that I love and cake is very important to me, but it's size of the slice."

"I've never been on a diet," says Hollywood, with a scornful shake of his head when the word is mentioned. "I've never said I've been on a diet, never been on a diet, never will go on a diet. I've been training because I race cars now, so I've been doing a lot of weightlifting and boxing."

In the first edition, the focus is on Hollywood's favourite cake and Berry has a fiendish technical challenge, which sees contestants getting to grips with fatless sponges and tricky chocolate work.

Can Britain Have a Pay Rise? (BBC2, 8pm)

NEW Prime Minister Theresa May has pledged to focus on "rewarding hard-working people with higher wages". One in five working adults are officially classed as low-paid, and nearly half the British workforce earns less than £20k a year, but can we really expect that to change? James O'Brien and Teesside's Stephanie McGovern host a studio debate with 100 people from around the country who represent different pay levels and who will be answering some very big questions, including whether British employees work hard enough and if bosses are paid too much. McGovern will also be speaking to experts about the impact Brexit will have on our salaries.

The Watchman (C4, 9pm)

STEPHEN Graham moves from the BBC's The Secret Agent, to this one-off drama by Dave Nath, playing father-of-two Carl, a CCTV operator who spends his working days alone, watching the world through a series of screens. But Carl is becoming increasingly horrified and frustrated by the events he witnesses, and particularly by what he considers to be the police's inability to bring criminals to book. When they refuse to tackle a group of drug dealers, Carl decides to intervene – setting in motion a terrifying chain of events.

Viv Hardwick