Original subtitles

It's the chefs' last chance to get on the banquet menu.

With truly exceptional dishes inspired by Dennis the Menace

to Bananaman, from Banksy's Balloon Girl to the BFG,

it really is going to be a cracker.

And with the voice of Mummy Pig from Peppa Pig guest judging,

let's hope everyone behaves themselves.

Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Dennis.

Hey, Dennis.

You've grown!

It's time to decide which chef will cook the dessert course.

Last course. One spot left.

It's going to be a hard clay today.

Months of experimentation, creation and practice

all come down to this...

That is insane!

...the final chance to get a place at our banquet

at Brighton's Royal Pavilion, honouring British animators

and illustrators in the year of Paddington Bear's 65th birthday.

Prepare to be amazed!

After Avi won the starter with his Gruffalo-inspired

scrambled snake, and Nick, the fish course with his

Radio head album cover, Moon Shaped Pool,

yesterday, Tom's Desperate Dan Cow Pie saw him triumph in the main.

I can't believe that, it's unbelievable.

All three have high-scoring desserts, but they're up against

five other chefs who are now even more determined to win.

Of all the dishes that I would want to the banquet, this is the one.

This is now my third attempt.

The second time I've been in the finals.

I need to get a dish at the banquet.

This makes me seriously worried. Yeah.

Our expert judges are expecting nothing less than perfection...

It's just amazing.

...as they are joined by Morwenna Banks, an actor who's voiced

many of our best-loved animated characters, to help decide

which of the eight dishes would be the most exceptional finale

to our banquet.

I have never come across a clay where this has come down

to being so, so close. I just don't know how we're going to do it.

Honestly. We're in trouble, aren't we?

The pressure's on today.

There's only one more slot in the banquet.

Last opportunity so,

just got to give it absolutely everything.

Big day today. Dessert.

We all want that last space, don't we?

There's definitely a little added pressure today.

A bit more tension.

Nervous, yeah. I'll be excited when this one's over.

Deciding the final chef at the banquet are our judges -

Michelin starred chef Tom Kerridge, restaurateur Nisha Katona

and off-menu podcaster, comedian Ed Gamble.

We've got our main.

Menu is really shaping up.

The guests are in for a super treat. Yeah. But it is dessert clay.

Do you remember Avi's spheres from the Clanger dessert?

Ancl I'm hoping Mark can do something special as well.

Get him right up that leader board.

Yeah. But let's not sideline Tom again,

even though he got main yesterday.

Who got the best score, then, from the judges' chamber, you?

Yeah, I think I got a perfect for 40 for that one.

So I'm gunning for it, to be fair.

I got 35, but I'm changing mine.

Why? That's a great score. It wasn't 40. It's not good enough.

I like it.

Ancl then there was Nick's Balloon Girl Banksy dish, for instance,

and then the Food Fight by Adam.

It is going to be a food fight today. It really is!

The last two courses were both 40s that won it, and I think

that will continue today.

Everyone's going to be excited in the kitchen. So am I.

I'm going to give it my best and go all guns blazing.

This competition's been great.

The only thing that's missing is my name on that board.

Good morning, chefs.

Good morning. Morning, morning, morning.

How are you doing? Very good. Good, thank you.

How are you doing, Torn? Good night's sleep last night?

Yeah, slept like a baby.

And, Adam, I've got to ask you, how are you feeling the second day

in a row that you've stood there and came out second place?

It makes me more hungry to push harder today.

So who wants it? Adam!

Two hands!

There's everything for everyone to play for.

That's what's so exciting.

Ancl so we need to go out with a real flourish.

So, first to cook, Danielle, Mark, Adam and Nick.

Thank you. Good luck, guys.

And the rest of you are going to cook a little bit later on.

Best of luck. Thank you. Thank you.

There's a sense of urgency in the kitchen as they get cooking.

Coming by your legs, thank you.

Perfectionist Adam places huge pressure on himself.

Oh, that's hot.

This was his undoing last year.

He needs to make sure he keeps his cool as he once again makes

last-minute changes, adding a sour strawberry and marshmallow sorbet

to his dish.

I had an epiphany in the shower today.

I'm going to go off piste a bit.

Adam might be winging it, but Nick is more relaxed,

having already won the fish course.

He prepares an orange and lemon zest cheesecake.

So I scored really well for this.

I've already got a dish to the banquet,

so this is my chance at getting a double bubble.

Mark hasn't troubled the leaders so far, but to try and change that,

he's also making tweaks to his honey-based dessert.

Just modifying better flavour, better ingredients.

So hopefully they'll see that and taste that.

Danielle scored lowest in the regionals with 25.

She's pouring hot milky tea onto egg yolks to make ice cream,

adding salt this time to balance the flavour.

Just worried about getting everything together on time.

Obviously I'm first up, so there's always a bit more pressure.

Helping choose who gets that last place on the banquet menu

is comedy actor, scriptwriter and voice of many favourite

animated characters, including Mummy Pig

and Mrs Brown in The Adventures Of Paddington,

Morwenna Banks.

Well, if we're all being honest,

I was happy it went missing. What?

Well, it isn't exactly the best statue I ever made, and I always

kind of felt like it was watching me.

Hello!

Thanks so much for coming and eating loads of desserts with us.

Thank you very much.

Lovely to meet you.

How are you? Yeah, I'm all right, thank you. Shall I sit?

Is that allowed? Yes, do. Make yourself comfy.

It's going to be a long clay. You're in for a treat today.

We've got some amazing dishes and obviously we're talking about...

Animation and illustration is the theme of the banquet.

Your CV with voice over work and animations is huge.

Well, that's because I'm very old, basically!

No. It's an area that I worked in a lot and I absolutely love it.

So how did you get into that, though?

I started out as a writer and a performer, and the guys

who created Peppa Pig came to me and said, "Will you do the voices,

"we're trying to sell this idea?"

I was like, "Yeah, of course I'll help you."

I felt so sorry for them.

Who's going to buy a pig in a dress? It's not going work, is it?

It's not going to work!

Ancl so I get to play Mummy Pig and Madame Gazelle

and Dr Hamster the vet.

Oh! Thank you, Mummy Pig, for agreeing to jump

from an aeroplane. What?

But I've never clone it before.

You'll be fine.

Remember, it is for the children.

Oh, in that case, of course I'll do it.

So the guest judge is Morwenna Banks.

I know her from Mummy Pig and Peppa Pig, which my son goes wild for.

Oh, lovely.

She's the voice over for my inspiration,

Ben & Holly, the Queen Marigold.

Does that give you an advantage because she's got...?

Hopefully I might score some extra points.

As Nick fills his cheesecakes with raspberry and rose gel,

the other chefs are all jostling for space in the oven.

Mark needs it for tuiles, and Adam and Danielle both

have cakes to bake.

When's your cake going in? Next ten minutes.

I've got 14 minutes to cook my cake.

Go for it. Go for it.

Adam's making a burnt butter and meadowsweet cake.

This is called "mistake cake".

When I was developing this cake recipe, I weighed out

the ingredients wrong, and it worked out way better.

As his cake goes in, Danielle whisks up a batter for hers

with condensed milk and vanilla.

She gently pours it out, trying to keep as much

of the air as possible.

I didn't get the highest scores for this dish,

so I want to do it better. I'll get my ice cream churned.

Don't want any ice crystals in there, and get my cake

nice and fluffy today.

OK, the first dessert in today is from Danielle from the Northwest,

and it's...

Ancl it's a condensed milk sponge

with Earl Grey custard

and builder's tea ice cream.

And it's inspired by children's cartoon Bob The Builder,

made in Manchester from 1999 to 2009.

I once asked, for my birthday, for my main present,

a tin of condensed milk just to eat it myself.

Yeah, and I did.

To go with the cake,

Danielle's sieving an Earl Grey custard, which the judges felt

was too thin last time.

What else was your feedback?

The cake was a bit dense, they said.

My ice cream, they said, was grainy.

I think I churned it just a bit too early.

I see apples, not pears. You had pears before?

Yes, I did, yeah. Give it a go. Why not?

It's the last clay.

Finally, she gets her slot in the oven to bake

the condensed milk cake.

The cake's probably all good now, so I don't bother you.

There she is - mistake cake. Sweet as a nut.

She's also making a salted caramel, which she needs to get cooled,

along with some apple gel.

But the chillers are just as in demand as the ovens.

Nick? Yeah? if I put this in here, is that going to bother you?

It's absolutely fine by me.

It was a massive deal, wasn't it, Bob the Builder? It was.

Ancl a number one song for quite a long time, wasn't it?

Now, Tom marked this down last time, because he hates builders.

Listen, they always take too long and charge twice the price.

But Bob doesn't.

Yeah, comes out with his pencil, goes, "Ohhh," through his teeth.

Yes. Can we fix it?

Yeah.

Danielle's about to find out if she's fixed her condensed milk cakes

by making them lighter.

It looks better.

We'll see.

Everything is ready except her caramel, which is still cooling.

I've been having to play with the blast freezer in the fridge,

so it's taken a little bit longer than I thought it was.

Danielle, you have two minutes to the pass.

How are you getting on?

Would it be all right if I have an extra five minutes, please?

Five minutes is fine. Let's do it.

So the dessert is supposed to be here,

but it is a builder-based dessert,

so no doubt it's going to be late and twice the price!

Finally, she begins plating with her thicker Earl Grey custard...

...then the new apples, which she's compressed in verjus.

What do you need, Danielle?

Nick helps by piping on the apple gel. Like that? Yes.

And at last, the troublesome caramel is ready.

Adam, would you be able to top a hazelnut on each caramel,

please, Chef? Yep.

You have two minutes left of the extra five.

You going to be all right with that? Yes, Andi. Fantastic.

All that's left to do is pipe the well-churned tea ice cream

into mugs.

Everyone likes a good cup of tea, don't they? Yes.

A good brew.

Service, please.

Always forget about the hats. Yeah!

They look good, don't they?

# Bob the Builder, can we fix it?

# Bob the Builder

# Yes, we can

# Scoop, Muck and... #

So we have a traditional tea and cake.

Looks delicious. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I think it's better.

The taste of that tea is more intense.

I'm really getting builder's tea when I taste the ice cream.

The ice cream's absolutely beautiful.

The ice cream is really nice.

It's even got a bitterness of tea. A little bit of tea-ness. Yeah.

What do you reckon, Tom?

It's like eating a cold cup of tea.

The tea ice cream, I find a little grainy.

The sponge is...

I love the caramelisation.

Yeah, I mean, I think the sponge is massively improved.

I think that sponge is really tasty now.

Flavours work really well together.

Caramel, a little bit of nut.

Nice work, Soldier.

The apple's got some tartness. Mmm.

I can see what you're saying. It's beautifully presented.

I went into the ice cream first and it was really lovely taste

and the condensed milk sponge, obviously, that's really lovely.

It's a nice dish.

The sponge is great, but this isn't a banquet-worthy dish.

Says Tom. GRUMPY VOICE: It's like earing a cold cup of tea!

Second to serve will be Mark.

Wish me luck.

Good luck. Good luck.

He's making some honey and raspberry mead jelly bees.

I've changed the honey itself.

I've used heather honey now from the mountains in Wales,

which is a stronger flavour.

His dish is called...

Based on the animation Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom,

it's a honey tuile and honey sourdough parfait sandwich.

He gets the parfait into the freezer to set.

The feedback that you got from Ed was that he thought

that the link to the brief was maybe a bit tenuous.

Are you changing anything about your presentation? I am.

I've just got little characters.

They're going to be sticking up, like, looking out of the pot.

So you'll see Ben and Holly? And a little gold crown for the king.

Well, why don't we say it's for the queen?

Oh, yeah, for the queen. Cos she's in there!

It's Queen Marigold. Yeah, that's it, yeah.

So Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom, does that ring a bell?

That rings a bell. Yeah?

I play Queen Marigold, and it's a really beautiful animation.

This gorgeous world of the kingdom of fairies and elves.

It was very, very good fun to do.

Mark is hoping to impress the queen as he cuts par-baked honey tuiles

into sandwich triangles.

Then they're back in the oven for a final crisp up,

whilst he pops out his heather-honey-flavoured jelly bees.

Yeah, very happy with my bees. They taste better, they're softer,

they look better, to be honest, as well.

He then uses the same honey to stick the baked tuiles onto his parfait

to create the sandwiches before scooping out

a raspberry sorbet he's made.

They liked my sorbet the last time. I just put more on.

He's also adding fresh raspberries for a more intense flavour.

You've got two minutes to the pass, Mark.

I'm on time. Lovely. I'll be on time.

For texture, he adds a few freeze dried raspberries,

then tops with edible flowers and new rice paper characters.

So, it's Holly & Ben. just do it like that. Yes, Chef.

Thanks.

He finishes by plating his sourdough parfait and honey tuile sandwiches

to look like a plate at a picnic.

Happy? I am happy.

Those jellies look wicked.

Ready, sir? Yeah. Service, please.

Oh, thank you.

It is beautiful, this dish. It is.

Oh, wow.

Looks a cracker, doesn't it? That looks wicked.

Yeah, it does. Really nice.

I think he's done very well here. He has.

We've got a bit more link to brief, and these little

mead and honey jellies, these little bees, they are fabulous.

Beautiful. A special shout out to this raspberry sorbet,

because I absolutely love it.

The parfait is excellently made, wonderfully executed,

but it's actually a real celebration of the honey. Mm-hm.

It's gorgeous. It's what you'd want to eat

if you went to Little Kingdom.

It is really like magic food.

It's lovely, that honey. Mm.

It's a lot better honey. It's much stronger, isn't it?

Yeah. It's lovely, Morwenna, hearing you talk about

the Little Kingdom and the delicacy of it,

because that's absolutely what you get here.

You know, it's diaphanous and pretty.

Ancl the flowers... Diaphanous?

What does that mean?

Oh, it's diaphanous all over the shop.

LAUGHTER

The parfait's absolutely delicious. Isn't it?!

It's so nice. That sorbet's amazing, by the way.

Oh, thanks. So smooth.

A very satisfying crunch on that tuile, isn't there?

Really nice. Super balanced.

He's executed that really well. Couldn't have clone much better.

We know a bit more about the world of the show now,

and I think you're right, Nisha. I think it does take us there.

The diaphanous world of the show. The diaphanous world of the show.

Yeah.

For his dish, Adam is steaming long pepper custards.

This is the last time to showcase my food,

so I'm going to just enjoy it.

But I'm going to go out kicking and screaming.

I'm going to make sure everything tastes really, really wonderful.

He scored 38 last time with his deconstructed trifle

based on the Beano's famous food fight image

with a taste of meadowsweet, strawberry, coffee

and long pepper.

There were so many bits of this dessert

that were incredible.

Do you remember that long pepper?

You know, the flavours are unusual. So actual long peppers?

So long pepper is a kind of...

It's how you used to bring heat in the east.

It's kind of black pepper. Tastes like black pepper.

It's a bit hotter. But to put that in a dessert, can you imagine?

Oh, no. Clever. Clever.

For another unusual flavour, Adam mixes

his sweet and sour coffee syrup.

So I burnt the sugar,

then I added vinegar for the coffee

and I finished it with a little, little bit of strawberry.

Hello, Adam. Hello.

How are you, darling? Focused.

I'm pretty sure you're going to be chasing those extra two points.

I am. I'm going to do the jelly, hopefully in a little, you know,

like a '60s jelly kind of shape, instead of it being squares.

Is that the only change you're making?

Hopefully I'm going to add to it,

but I just want to make sure it works. Right, OK.

So you're going to keep that under your hat until we decide?

Tell me on the pass. We'll find out a bit later on.

He's leaving nothing to chance after putting

his new '60s-style moulds of strawberry jelly

with a hint of grenadine in to set.

Oh, I need my glasses.

He also chills a backup tray.

Stressful times, then. Stressful times.

The presentation for this one -

I won't give too much away, Morwenna.

But it's pretty fantastic, I think. Excellent.

It really captured the fun of the Be a no.

Because I'm a Be a no boy myself. Yeah.

I love the Be a no. And actually, they rebooted Dennis The Menace.

So I did some of the voices for that,

which was very good fun.

Who did you play in the Be a no cartoon?

So I played a variety of characters.

I played Mum.

Ancl I played Bea.

Ancl I played Angel Face.

Ancl I think Pie Face.

And Nan and Mrs Creature.

Drop the cake tin, Menace.

YOW!

Oh, that's risky business.

Adam portions his burnt butter cake.

It's delicious.

He checks his new sorbet to see if he's managed to get it

to taste like sour strawberry marshmallow.

Then demoulds his new jelly shapes.

They worked.

My little jellies! Yeah?

He begins to create his Food Fight on Be a no plates

with strawberry and black verjus gels,

followed by the long pepper custards and the coffee syrup.

You have five minutes to the pass.

How's it going? Yeah, not bad. Thank you.

What's that you're putting on now? Popping candy.

Oh, wow.

The meadowsweet and burnt butter mistake cake is placed

and meadowsweet cream is added.

They're joined by the strawberries and new jellies.

It's a trifle at the end of the clay,

so trifle flavours.

A very refined trifle, I'll say.

He adds translucent shards of sugar tuile

and tops it all off with the new sorbet.

Awesome. Service, please. Thank you very much.

Amazing.

Oh, my goodness! Thank you.

Oh, that's amazing.

She's a beaut.

Food Fight?

Definitely.

Oh, I forgot the sorbet. Do you want me to put the sorbet on yours?

It'll take a second.

I... My first comment is, it's a little bit too sweet for me.

There's nothing really cooling on there.

I forgot the ice cream!

Oh! Help yourself.

That sorbet, it really floods your mouth.

It's such a natural, punchy flavour.

It's got that tartness about it that I really like.

The ice cream's...good.

That's lovely, that is, man. Oh, that's class.

That's really nice. Really nice.

Meadow sweet cream?

What is that? Meadowsweet's a herb.

OK. It's such a distinct taste as well, isn't it?

But it's so summery and... It's incredible.

I mean, that strawberry jelly's got to define strawberry jellies

from now for evermore.

But it's the coffee. Mmm. The coffee and the burnt butter cake.

The cake is... ls just amazing!

It's very, very childlike.

But there's so many elements in there of sophistication.

Mark, how are you liking that? I love it.

They're all balanced correctly. Ancl nice texture as well.

Artistically, it's brilliant.

Ancl in terms of flavour, it just hasn't put a foot wrong.

Tom, even I am going to say finishing a dessert,

three desserts in on dessert clay,

is a dangerous thing to do, my friend.

Champion!

That's brilliant. I love everything about it.

My only problem from a banquet point of view,

there is so many elements to getting this...

I think of all the people that we can trust to get it out...

Exactly. ..Adam's the guy, right?

Absolute contender if ever I've tasted one.

I think one of the best desserts I've ever had

in The Great British Menu kitchen.

But there's still some big guns to come.

Next, it's Nick, who also scored 38 in the regionals.

Come on!

He's whizzing up a salted oat biscuit base

to go on a raspberry and rose cheesecake,

which is served with a raspberry chocolate torte.

"This dish is inspired by Banksy's Balloon Girl,

"and when it was shredded at auction,

"it was renamed Love In The Bin."

Just like Banksy, he's using a stencil to create the image.

He fills it with the chocolate and raspberry torte mix

before getting it into the fridge to set.

So you have a 38? Yeah.

I'm assuming you'd like 40.

Absolutely.

That's the aim of the game. Are you making any changes?

Very tiny little tweaks, actually. just on the base.

I thought it could've been a tiny bit firmer, a bit tighter.

Ancl I've just adjusted the rose the tiniest bit.

Tiniest bit more rose. Tiniest little tweak?

Yeah.

He blends the rose and raspberry mirror glaze...

Can certainly smell that.

Yeah, it is a bit strong, that stuff. Whoo.

...then pours it over the now-set cheesecakes

to make them look like the red heart balloon.

Tell me if I miss a bit.

In the judges' chamber, they're back on Peppa Pig.

It's a godsend of a program me if you've got little kids.

It's very clever animation, because it really does capture imagination.

Oh, that's ama... No, that's really fantastic to hear that,

because I think, also, you know, on any animation,

there are hundreds and hundreds of people

who work behind the scenes.

We don't really see each other very much

because we record separately.

So I don't get to see, you know, Daddy Pig.

You know, a couple of times a year. It's the perfect marriage.

LAUGHTER

Nick's added highlights with edible spray to his tortes

and now has to get them out of the stencils cleanly.

I'm really happy with my tortes.

I'm just touching up the details around the edges. But I'm happy.

Banksy half-shredded the painting when it was bought at auction.

And Nick is adding in that final detail.

That's some rice paper with some white chocolate raspberry powder

and yoghurt-coated popping candy on the back.

Then the rose and raspberry cheesecake hearts

are very carefully placed on his canvas.

Mate, this looks absolutely incredible. Wow.

As Nick is head chef at one of Tom's restaurants,

I'm judging this dish.

Hello. Hello. Hi, Andi.

And Tom is in the kitchen.

How are we doing, guys? Yeah, not too bad.

How was Food Fight? Can't tell you.

Can't tell you how Food Fight was, Chef. Oh!

Nick finishes the image with a blackcurrant pate de fruits

jelly balloon string.

How are you doing, mate?

All good?

Oh, spilled out. No worries.

Got another one.

Better that happened in here than out there.

Well, yeah.

I'll be so slow.

Take two. Here we go.

OK. Service, please.

HAPPY? HAPPY-

Oh, wow. I mean, it almost feels like a shame to eat it. Yeah.

Oh, wow. It's being shredded.

The creaminess of that cheesecake is so gentle.

And then you've got the beautiful crunch on the bottom.

The pate de fruits has got just the right amount of berry in it.

And then that aggression from the chocolate.

It's a real sort of...an elegant slap in the face.

It's delicious, you know?

Sort of bitter in the right way, the chocolate.

Yeah, I really like it. Yeah. Yeah, it's wonderful.

Really nicely set cheesecake, I think.

The glaze on top - so perfect.

What are we thinking, chefs?

It's really good.

I love the rose. Yeah.

Rose - if I see rose on a menu, I'm not ordering it.

But the subtle way that it's in there,

and it just stays on the palate for a little bit and then it's gone.

That's the only question in my mind,

about that rose being a divisive flavour.

I love it.

Is anyone a little bit nervous?

Yeah, definitely looks stunning.

This makes me seriously worried. Yeah.

That's my favourite one yet.

It's beautiful. I'm just sitting here looking...

Is it popping candy? Yeah. It's really lovely.

It transforms the rice paper.

Well, the girl looked upset when she was losing the balloon.

She looks even more upset now

the balloon's absolutely been destroyed.

Now you've eaten the bottom of her dress.

Yeah, I'll take her head off and then she won't be able to see.

LAUGHTER Done!

Hello. All right.

Hello, chefs. How are you?

You all right? Good. Good. We're clone.

How's it going? Bananas.

I feel drunk on sugar right now.

I am absolutely loving it.

I mean, honestly, it's been a magical

and brilliant morning.

There's been marked improvements.

Those tweaks are not simple at all.

When you're in finals week on the dessert clay,

it's chemistry and it's physics.

So for them to do that, and so well.

The competition this morning was very, very good.

Super close. Got us nervous.

You up first? Got enough time?

Yeah, bags of time.

Having made year after year birthday cakes,

that's stressful enough.

Ancl to see the detail and the care and the thought

that's gone into kind of producing these beautiful pieces of work,

all of them quite emotional, actually. Yeah.

Any contenders for you in there, Ed?

I mean, yeah. We've already seen two contenders this morning, I think.

Ancl we're in trouble, cos there's at least two more coming.

We're in trouble, aren't we? Yeah.

The second quartet start cooking.

Last time, bro.

Let's go eat!

GEMMA HUMS

This was Gemma's highest-scoring course in the regionals.

She starts by making a chocolate ice cream mix.

I love pastry, so I'm going to give it absolutely everything.

I really, really want this dish to go to the banquet.

Avi is also using chocolate, for a flour less, slow-baked cake,

whilst Willis making a hazelnut crumble,

which he's turned black to look like the inside of a meteor.

Will, Gemma and Avi are all on 35 points in this kitchen.

It's a very tight field.

They're adding elements, taking bits off in an attempt

to win those extra points

and perhaps get their name on that banquet menu.

Oven's on 160, Tom. Thank you, Chef.

They all know that Tom's the chef to beat

as he scored a perfect 40 in his regional final.

He mixes up a banana cake

as Morwenna explains how she creates the voices for her characters.

Somebody asked me just today

about whether the voice comes first or the picture comes first,

and usually you're shown a design or a drawing

and then you try and match.

That's what happened when I was creating Madame Gazelle.

I was sat in the room. And they go, "We've got a new character for you."

"What have you got. " And you do it on the spot.

Willis caramelising pears in apple marigold vinegar caramel.

He's first this afternoon with the meteor shower dessert

of parfait, pear, chocolate and crumble,

inspired by Dapo Adeola's illustrations

in the book Look Up.

Now, you scored a pretty healthy 35.

You lost points for lack of theatre... Again. ..with this.

Yes. There's a similar pattern, yeah.

So are you addressing that in any way?

So there's going to be some sort of smoky effect,

so it will look space age.

How happy would this make you

if you managed to get this through to the banquet?

Yeah, it'd be amazing.

Will's created different-tasting space rocks

to represent his meteor shower.

For the red iron elements,

he aerates ruby chocolate,

which will expand the air within it and make it bubbly.

Are you going to blast it?

OK, I got it.

To stop the bubbles warming up and collapsing,

he gets it straight into the chiller.

In the judges' chamber, he's rigged up a light show

for an outer space feel.

I remember this being wonderful.

It was a really good representation of what I'd imagine a meteor shower

to be like, apart from the devastation.

And carnage. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, I'm looking forward to it very much.

Carnage, death, destruction on a plate.

Cheers, mate.

For more space rocks, Will sprays a brown butter parfait

into liquid nitrogen to flash freeze.

He uses the same technique with buttermilk granita

to create white shiny pieces

like the meteors flashing through the sky.

You've got six minutes, my dear.

How's it all going over there? Very good.

Will starts plating with pear puree,

pear spheres in apple marigold vinegar caramel...

Do you want to carry on doing that?

...and a sprinkling of the black hazelnut crumble.

It's almost sparkling, isn't it?

Oh, it's got edible glitter in it.

Looks incredible, that does. Yeah, it's amazing.

Tom helps by drizzling on more of the apple marigold caramel,

then Will adds some stardust

with the tiny pieces of buttermilk granita.

Can you two put, like, five pieces of that on?

Next, it's the aerated ruby chocolate and the parfait.

What flavour's that? Brown butter.

That's lovely, that is, mate.

After the comments in heats,

he's made his parfait rocks bigger

so that they are the central element of his meteor shower.

One minute to go, Will. Yep.

The dish gets a final drizzle of the caramel

and another sprinkle of the nutty crumble.

You happy, Chef? Yeah. Service, please.

Last one. Thank goodness.

Well, it looks fantastic.

He's added dry ice underneath the bowl,

so when hot water is poured on

theatrical smoke, as if from a newly crashed meteor shower,

rises up.

Ooh! Very cool.

Nice. Amazing.

Look at that!

That looks delicious. Wow!

Thank you!

I love it. Yeah.

I absolutely love it.

That apple marigold vinegar, that level of acidity

that just ties it all together.

It's creamy with the parfait, it's fruity, chocolaty.

The pear balls are absolutely fantastic.

Well, that parfait's bloody delicious, isn't it? Mm.

He's got a good flavour on that pear as well. Mm.

The pears have got a little more bite,

which is really nice.

Yeah, it needs that. Yeah, I didn't compress them this time.

Ah! Really, really tasty.

Didn't expect it to taste like that.

Yeah, it's just delicious, mate.

This is tastes I haven't tasted before, I think.

Marigold vinegar. Buttermilk granita.

I mean, you know, combination of words

that are just extraordinary

Feels like... You know when you're sat outside

on a really dark, very quiet night, just looking at a real clear sky...

I grew up in London, so I don't know what you mean by that.

LAUGHTER But I'm there.

Now you've described it, I'm absolutely there.

What a lovely ending to a banquet this would be.

Tricky thing here is, we have had some desserts

that are so compelling in their storytelling,

and does this rank alongside them?

Can I move this to the top?

Yeah.

Avi is next, and he's making a coconut rice pudding

for his dessert inspired by the Clangers

stop motion animation.

He's going to turn the rice pudding into a sphere for their planet,

to be served alongside his rich chocolate cake,

which is still baking.

A fabulous chocolate cake. But I think...

Well, certainly Tom felt like it was two separate desserts

on the same plate, didn't you? Oh, yeah. Blame me.

But it was. And both of them were absolutely delicious.

But it was too big.

And it had nothing to do with the Clangers.

The judges felt both elements on the plate were slightly big,

so I'm going to reduce it this time.

But also, I'm adding some fun elements.

So I've got these little baby Clangers. Right.

Which I'm going to make with this pink chocolate.

Oh, amazing.

He pipes the ruby chocolate into the moulds.

Starting to caramelised behind you, boss.

Yeah. Thank you, sir.

Before rescuing some caramel for a pistachio praline,

as the judges tune in to their inner Clanger.

SLIDE WHISTLING

These are great!

MORWEN NA IMITATES CLANGER

This could be a disaster, you know?

Avi's now trying to demould his flour less chocolate cake.

Oh, it's making me wince!

Hey-hey!

I rewatched some of the Clangers, which was incredibly beautiful.

It's amazing the power of those animations, isn't it?

You can have a really loud, mad animation

that would sort of hype kids up. Yes.

But then also, like, those more soothing animations,

things like the Clangers. Absolutely.

For his take on the Clangers' serene style,

Avi sprays his rice pudding mix into balloons

to form the planets.

Did you used to watch the Clangers when you were younger?

I grew up in India, so we never had the Clangers in India.

I do remember watching a little bit of it when I moved here.

I was like, "They are very bonkers."

And I did wonder what kind of TV programmes kids watched

in this country. Yeah, right.

The balloons of rice pudding are flash frozen

in liquid nitrogen...

That's mad, that is.

...to create a hard outer shell and soft inside.

Does the balloon just peel off? Yeah.

Well, that's what I'm hoping.

As Avi peels off the balloons,

Will helps by positioning the ruby chocolate Clangers

onto slices of the cake.

Perfect. just so he looks like he's looking at the planet.

ANDI CHUCKLES They look really cute.

What next, Avi?

These chocolates.

Maybe like that? Yes.

The pistachio praline is sprinkled around,

the new chocolate bin lids are added -

like the ones the Clangers had on top of their volcanic vents.

This time, Avi's also serving with dry ice

for some outer space atmosphere.

Right, I'm happy with that.

Let's do it. Service, please.

Oh, there's a little Clanger there. He's sweet.

Mm.

It's super flavoursome.

Got a beautiful aerated rice pudding-y

moon-cloud-planet that's delicious,

that's enhanced by the beautiful, amazing chocolate brownie.

It's much more focused.

Unbelievable. The chocolate cake is just one of

the best things I've ever tasted. Yeah, it's unreal.

Ancl then the moon is just...

I've never seen anything like that in my life.

I had to watch Tom to see what to do with the sphere.

I had to... Smack your spoon straight in it.

Smack your spoon in. I love the pistachio on that. Mm.

Really beautiful flavour.

The rice pudding planet is so delicious.

Ancl I love the chocolate cake, obviously.

But together, I think the rice pudding planet

almost turns into a bit of a texture rather than a flavour.

I like the coconut flavour.

I know. I prefer the middle to the outside.

The outside takes longer to melt. It's like an ice cube. Yeah.

I don't like the coconut thing at all.

I love the cake and I love the nuts, but I don't like the texture of it.

Technically, it's pretty faultless.

It's arguably the best chocolate cake

I think any of us have ever had.

If I can make chocolate cake like that, I wouldn't leave the house.

No.

What's so important is that I think it's unforgettable

in terms of its flavour,

and that's one of the things we're looking for at the banquet.

SHE GROANS Ha!

Just two to go.

I'm going to get seriously messy here.

And despite scoring 35 for her cherry-glazed parfait

in the heats, Gemma has completely transformed her dish

and is now making a chocolate log.

"It's the BFG's Black Forest gateau.

"The BFG'S BFG.

"Dark chocolate shell topped with cherry cream,

"served with sour cherries and a chocolate ice cream.

"And it's inspired by the BFG, written by Roald Dahl

"and illustrated by Quentin Blake.

"It's an interpretation of Black Forest gateau

"and what the BFG might have eaten at tea with the Queen."

Talk me through it. What changes are you making?

So I'm setting it in a different mould.

I'm adding a hazelnut insert,

I'm adding a pistachio crumble and chocolate tuile,

a cherry gel, and I'm adding some pistachio sponge.

So quite a lot to do. Yeah.

Well, I wish you loads of luck. Thank you. High five?

No, thank you. LAUGHTER

So she can get the consistency she wants,

Gemma has brought her own familiar ice-cream machine

from her restaurant and sets it to churn,

then works on her new pistachio soil

by mixing the nuts with the caramel.

Ah! Very hot pan!

Her logs are filled with her new hazelnut element,

followed by a cherry gel

and finally a crunchy feuilletine base.

She's altered the taste as well as the shape

after Tom's feedback in the regionals.

Cherries themselves as a fruit is beautiful

but the flavour of them very subtle.

So most cherry desserts are always enhanced.

So I wanted Gemma to tone it down just a little touch.

I wanted more cherry.

I love that flavour of cherry.

So it's how does she strike the balance

that keeps us all happy?

Gemma's rushing to finish

as she sprays her logs white.

Huh!

To try to please everyone,

she's changed the cherry flavour she's using to a morello puree,

which she mixes into a cream.

I'm definitely under pressure with time,

but I was always going to be, with all the extra elements.

So I'm just going to...

Nearly there, aren't we?

She pipes the cherry cream...

All right, Gemma, my love. You have five minutes.

Wahey!

...add beads of the cherry gel

and moss-like clumps of the new pistachio sponge.

Can I do owt, Gemma? If you could jump on

and just do exactly that for me.

As Will places sour cherries,

Gemma sprinkles on the new pistachio and chocolate soil

to create a forest floor.

Yeah!

BFG in the house.

To add to the theme,

she's got Big Friendly Giant serving trays.

Great British Menu.

Actual monogrammed tablecloths.

I just... I think it's a stunner.

If you could go along and just put one cherry.

She's also adding new little morello cherry gel chocolates.

Is that the last thing going on, Gem?

Er, the ice cream as well.

Do you want me to do it? Do you want to do it?

Yeah, go ahead, mate. If you don't mind.

It's still really soft.

I think you should do it.

Her ice cream is melting fast.

You're five minutes over, Gemma.

Yes, Chef.

But with no time left, she gets it covered with gold leaf

and serves.

Thank you.

OK, let's go.

Service, please, guys.

To go with it, she's made a BFG cherry Frobscottle cocktail.

Are you going in? I'm going in, yeah.

All right. Good luck, Chef. It's now or never.

My brother!

How are you doing? Do you want to take one of them?

Shall I take one of those? Absolutely. Thank you.

Thank you, Chef.

Enjoy. Thank you so much. Thank you.

GEMMA LAUGHS

That soil is absolutely delicious. Gorgeous.

It's got a little salty kick to it. Oh, it's amazing.

The green is the...?

Kind of like an aerated sponge cake.

Ancl you really get the flavour of the pistachio in that. You do.

The little cherry at the side.

Oh, the sweet, sharp...

It's so well clone.

Oh! Sour!

I love sour.

Better? Transformed.

Everything about this is now so much more in balance.

You can taste the chocolate, you can taste the pistachio.

It's not overpowered by cherry.

What are you thinking, Will? You polished it off pretty quick.

Have I got it around my mouth? How is it?

Yeah, it's beautiful.

I mean, so much technique involved in this dish.

I think it's actually one of her best dishes.

It's all quite wet, but I think our ice cream

is severely melting, isn't it?

So my heart is breaking for her ice cream issue.

The fact that it's melted - for four of us.

Very tasty, though.

That is still an absolutely outstanding dessert.

Yeah. And it just seems harsh to mark her down.

So it's where do we put this in our heads?

She's got a technical element wrong and somebody else hasn't.

But my emotions are kind of inclined to overlook it.

Ancl that's such a massive improvement as well

from the first time we had it.

Ancl we loved it the first time. Mm.

She's not going to make it easy for us. No.

TIMER RINGS Bottom oven, Torn. Yeah.

Have we saved the best till last?

All good? Yeah, lovely.

Brummie Tom was the only chef to score a perfect 40

in the heats.

# B-A-N-A-N-A! #

A-

Bananas?

He's piping banana mousse with chocolate popping candy

into moulds.

So this is No Ordinary School Boy,

and it is a white chocolate banana filled with a banana mousse,

a side of banana cake with banana ice cream

celebrating Bananaman.

"Schoolboy Eric Wimp becomes muscly and has superpowers

"when he eats bananas."

Ancl I've never said the word bananas".

So many times! ..so many times.

Doesn't your Cornish accent really come through with the word bananas?

Tomatoes and bananas, apparently.

Tom adds gelling agent to his ice cream mix

to help it set and stay frozen.

Then he turns his attention to a pecan and cinnamon granola.

He's hoping this dish will get him into the exclusive club of chefs

who've done the Great British Menu double.

What would it mean to you to also get the dessert on this menu?

I am absolutely ecstatic with the single dish.

You wouldn't be human if you didn't want two.

It's a unique club, isn't it? It is a pretty unique club.

All I can do is just try and essentially replicate

to that previous level, or if not, even better.

Well, we're going for the big fat 40 again.

100%.

To get it, he needs perfect-looking bananas.

Whilst they're still frozen,

he dips them into yellow coloured white chocolate and cocoa butter,

which sets instantly.

The most important part now is actually

just making sure that every hole's covered.

Ancl the reason being, because it's such a soft mousse,

if any of it leaks out, it's going to be a hollow shell.

Look at that. Defrosting there.

See?

It's coming out.

It is right that you should say the word banana so many times

because there is a hell of a lot of banana in this dish. There is.

It's banana-ery. Banana.

But it is also brilliant. Oh, yeah.

If you like bananas.

So you've got eight minutes to go. You're looking...

Yeah, I'll be a little bit early if that's OK? ..ready over there.

Yeah, I am, to be fair.

With the realistic touches finished,

it's time to plate.

Oh! LAUGHTER

Yeah! He's Bananaman now.

That Bananaman suit never gets old, does it?

He adds the cake he made earlier into bowls

on top of banana leaves.

What's that sponge you're putting on?

A banana cake. Nice.

He liberally drizzles a newly improved rum soak

onto the cake,

followed by the pecan and cinnamon granola,

then the ice cream.

Is it a silly question to ask what flavour ice cream?

Yeah, it is, to be fair, mate. Yeah. LAUGHTER

It's finished with banana caramel

and served with a flask of banana essence.

Service, please, guys.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

WOW!

Oh, wow!

That smells of...banana. Banana!

Oh, that smells amazing. Wow.

That is just... 00f!

This banana is absolutely fantastic.

The mousse through it and the little popping candy.

It's exactly what you want from the Great British Menu, isn't it?

It's that complete magic, the interaction,

and then it's utterly delicious.

I especially like the nice crumbly, cakey granola.

Mm. That's lovely.

That's one of the nicest desserts I've ever eaten in my life.

Yeah. It's got different temperatures.

Crunchy bits, popping candy, flavour balance.

It's got everything.

I love the little extra heat that comes from that rum.

That is incredible.

I feel like I've got a banana in my mouth.

Probably... LAUGHTER

There's just so many levels to it. Mm.

Ancl all the levels are banana.

But they all bring something different. Mm.

It's like a multistorey car park of bananas,

and it's absolutely great.

Ancl it's so brave of him to make banana ice cream.

Because he could've gone a different way.

Could've been salted caramel ice cream.

But he absolutely had a focus. Yeah.

Executes it brilliantly.

It's a great concept -

if you eat a banana, you turn into a superhero.

I can't say I feel like a superhero right now,

but I don't think that's to do with this dessert.

More the combination of this dessert and the seven others

that I've had today.

Are you not turning into Sugar And Cream Man?

Well, I don't know about you guys,

but I'm sort of in a state of almost deep anxiety... Yeah.

...because of how high the chefs have set the bar.

I have never come across a day like today,

where there's so many phenomenal dishes,

and I can't think where this has come down to being so, so close.

What you're praying for in the situation

that we were in at the beginning of the clay

was that you've got three dishes that you know are amazing.

You're sort of hoping for two of them to drop the ball

so there's one clear winner.

What's instead happened is, they've all nailed it,

and a lot of other people have taken their dishes

from good to as outstanding. Yeah.

It's excruciating how many high marks we've got on here.

I just don't know how we're going to do it.

Honestly, it's been extraordinary.

Might it be time for Andi's magic ruling

at the end of the clay? Oh, Lord!

Let's see what happens.

Let's score it and then let's look at it. OK.

Nervous. It's always nerve-racking going in the judging chamber.

Today went better for me, I feel, than regionals.

Yeah, I feel really good.

I'm glad that that course is clone

and excited to see what the judges thought.

I think it's a no-brainer.

Tom's going to definitely smash out this dessert course,

and then I think it'll be Nick.

Then I think Mark.

It's really tough. The standard of the food's been amazing.

My top three would be Tom, Nick and Will.

Yeah, I think my dessert was at the top of its game.

Whether it's enough, who knows?

Nick's dessert was fantastic.

Avi's as well.

I think it was a very strong clay.

Adam's dessert was really nice.

It was very playful.

Maybe put myself in there.

Tom and Adam.

Gemma's was amazing.

They were all amazing, to be honest. I don't have a top three.

Hello, chefs. Hello. Hello.

Yeah, really. Yeah, really.

Absolutely extraordinary.

Welcome to the judges' chamber for the last time.

We had high expectations,

and those expectations were exceeded by each and every one of you.

I mean, it's sort of annoying how well you all did.

It made our lives extremely difficult.

When I arrived, I was looking for something

that would make me go "wow" - which all of you did today.

It's been an hon our and a sweet treat to be here.

Thank you. It is time to reveal the results.

OK, so in last place today -

but should still leave with her head held very, very high -

is...

"Danielle.

The dish today, there was improvements there.

The cake was fantastic. The caramelisation on it was lovely.

You could just see today that you came across seven other dishes

that were absolutely magical. Yeah. But well done today, Chef.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Danielle.

See you in the kitchen. Good luck, everyone.

Thank you.

Some of the dishes that was put up today, they were unreal.

So to come last against them is an hon our within itself.

And next,

actually in joint fourth place,

because, as you will see, the scoring is so tight,

it's going to be...

...Mark and Avi.

And Avi, if I can say to you, that you just have never

failed to impress us with how you just take ordinary ingredients

and make them extraordinary.

So this was simply coconut made simply incredible.

I know, Morwenna, you felt very strongly about Mark's dessert.

I did. I did.

It was a magical rendition of Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom.

And I'm sure that everyone who worked on the show

would've absolutely loved it.

So I gave you a ten. Oh, thank you.

And I wanted to say "da iawn". Oh, diolch.

Thank you very much. Well done, chefs.

Thanks.

Hello. Hello, Chef.

Oh, a joint one.

Yeah. joint fourth, apparently.

Oh!

Which means that there's going to be a few other joints. Yeah.

Wowse rs.

Ancl in third place, it's...

...Gemma.

We loved your dish in regionals anyway.

Ancl then you somehow transformed it and improved it even more.

It was truly, truly outstanding.

There was one slight technical issue with that ice cream,

which I think is the only thing that prevents you

from getting perfect scores across the board.

It was really that good. Outstanding, Gemma.

Massive improvement. Thank you. Thank you, Gemma.

Oh, Gemma. I'm shocked.

I put you in the top three. Thank you.

Well done.

I got third place.

Ah, amazing. So there has to be a joint...

A joint two and a one.

That's mental.

Ancl in second place...

"it's Will.

Ancl I also gave you a ten for a delicious,

unusual and beautiful taste explosion.

Thanks very much. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Will.

That's mental. That's mad.

Oh! Oh! You got second place?

Yeah. Amazing. Amazing.

How the hell are they going to decide?

Maybe all on one plate.

Let's go back and cook again.

Oh!

That brings us to the three of you - Nick, Adam and Tom -

and your dishes, Balloon Girl,

Food Fight

and No Ordinary School Boy.

How does it feel to be in this room again, guys?

Yeah, it's been... What a week. Unbelievable.

You know what? To be in the top three

consistently throughout the competition

has just made me super happy.

There's phenomenal chefs in there,

and cooking with all of them has been an hon our.

Yeah, I've sort of finished the week off very strongly.

It's an hon our. It's an absolute hon our.

Well, I can reveal that all three of you...

"scored perfect tens across the board.

But it does then all come down

to Andi

and Andi's decision.

So we really took a long, hard look at all three dishes.

And in my view, the dish that was the most exceptional,

the chef cooking that dessert at the banquet

celebrating British animation and illustration

for Paddington's 65th birthday will be...

...Adam. Finally!

LAUGHTER

How does it feel, Chef? Oh, my God.

Words cannot describe it.

Adam, you just raised your head slightly higher

than the other two.

Outstanding, Adam. So, so good. And it's going to be

the perfect way to end that banquet, so congratulations.

I appreciate that. Thank you so much.

I just wanted to say well done for an incredible...

It was like a 3D creation.

And it was absolutely extraordinary.

I know Scotland will be proud.

And I feel very grateful to have been here.

Thank you so much. Thank you very much.

That's amazing.

Chefs, I'm sure you're dying to pop that cork

and to let the other chefs know whose name will be

on that banquet menu cooking the dessert course.

Congratulations to all three of you.

Congratulations, guys. Well done.

Just exceptional.

Brilliant.

BLEEP. Yes!

Oh, my God.

Uh! I can't put it into words. I am so excited.

I put my heart and soul into that dish.

Bananaman! Ah! Oh!

Ah!

Oh, wow. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Come on.

Yahey!

Calm down. Calm down.

Really chuffed for Adam.

He completely deserves it after the week he's had.

Ancl he's been such a gracious loser every time he's come second.

He's been super complimentary.

CORK POPS, CHEFS CHEER

I feel exhausted, to be fair.

That was one hell of a roller coaster.

I think, to my knowledge, it was the first time ever

that there was a three-way tie for the final dessert course.

And I'm just... I feel honoured to be in that top three.

Cheers, guys. Well clone, everyone.

It's been amazing. Cheers, guys. Congratulations, Adam.

Well clone, Adam.

Very honoured to be cooking with these amazing chefs.

I'm very, very honoured to showcase my dessert.

Ancl I'm really proud to take Scotland to the banquet.

Hello, my love. My little turtle doves.

Ah, you did it!

Well done, Adam!

Thank you.

Thank you very much. What an enormous relief.

Now I can sleep.

So there is one more thing I have to tell you.

Cooking the canape and the pre-dessert at the banquet

is the highest-scoring runner-up,

and that chef is...

...Will. Yay! Well done, mate. Well clone, sir.

Congratulations. Congratulations, Will.

Well, I'll drink to that. Absolutely.

It feels amazing to be cooking canapes and pre-desserts.

You know, it's an hon our to just be there.

Amazing to represent the Northeast and Yorkshire at the banquet.

Honestly, what a menu.

What a competition.

Congratulations to all of you.

Stunning, stunning work.

Here is to our glorious banquet.

Here's to the banquet! Cheers, guys.

Cheers, everyone. Cheers.

Next time, we're at Brighton's Royal Pavilion...

It's literally like being in Elton John's downstairs toilet.

...where the chefs have just one hob and one oven...

Can I open it, Adam? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

...to create a banquet celebrating our animators and illustrators.

Oh, it is so intense, isn't it?

Who will win the ultimate trophy?

And this year's champion of champions is...