Britain's Best Bakery

Independent bakeries compete to impress judges Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell, beginning in Yorkshire where a contemporary baker goes head to head with a vintage-style cake maker and a Ukrainian bread specialist. Each business is challenged to come up with an original bake using polenta, and produce rhubarb and custard muffins that are good enough to see them through to the regional final.

Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell visit three bakeries in Northumberland and Co Durham. A Consett-based builder-turned-baker battles against professionals from Darlington and a father-and-son team creating local classics, but the task of rolling up a lemon roulade with home-made lemon curd puts pressure on the contestants.

Three bakeries from Derbyshire and Staffordshire come under the scrutiny of judges Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell. A pair of traditional pudding-makers come up against a husband and wife team who are self-taught pie specialists, and two self-sufficient Greek-inspired bakers. They are challenged to create a perfect Bakewell tart - but can they get them ready on time?

In Scotland, a community bakery goes up against artisan bread-makers in Edinburgh and an Israeli cook in Perthshire who grinds his own flour at a 400-year-old watermill. They must create an original product combining chilli and puff pastry, along with perfecting their brandy snap recipes in the hope of impressing judges Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell.

The week's winners go head to head in the Scottish and north-east of England regional final. Temperatures rise as the four bakeries do battle in the kitchen, with Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell scrutinising their every move. The aim is to create an afternoon tea to impress the judges, including a complicated layered hazelnut meringue gateau with hazelnut praline.

Three Devon-based bakeries try to impress judges Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell as they compete for a place in the regional final. A former Navy chef presents rum babas, a self-taught artisan baker rustles up some fennel and spinach bread, and a cake specialist prepares puff pastry, before all are challenged to create fudge-frosted choux eclairs.

Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell visit three bakeries in Somerset and Dorset. Two artisan chefs hope their garlic sourdough will impress and a mother-and-daughter duo create caramelised upside-down apple tarts under the watchful eyes of the judges, while a traditional baker struggles when challenged to incorporate goat's cheese into his food.

Three Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire bakeries come under the scrutiny of judges Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell, with two brothers rustling up lardy cakes, an artisan mother-and-son team attempting a Genoise sponge for the first time, and a French patissier taking on a British classic - sausage rolls.

Independent bakeries compete to impress judges Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell.

Four bakeries compete in the south-west England regional final. They will all be aiming to make their mark with a tasty afternoon tea, as they create a two-tiered coffee and walnut cake with buttercream icing against the clock before judges Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell decide who is the winner.

Independent bakeries compete to impress judges Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell.

The competition arrives in Birmingham, where a Caribbean mother and daughter duo make jerk chicken, a pair of French brothers create a lemongrass dish and two community cupcake bakers cook up some empanadas. With judges Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell.

Independent bakeries compete to impress judges Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell.

Contestants from the West Midlands compete for a place in the regional final. A house husband makes a smelly scone, a brother-and-sister team creates a cake using root vegetables and a traditional baker gets into a sticky situation when he rustles up caramel apple crumble tart.

The best of the contenders from Wales and central England battle it out, creating an afternoon tea with a mix of both sweet and savoury items, and attempting a layered lime and coconut cake, all against the clock. Judges Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell must decide which baker goes through to National Finals week.

Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell visit three bakers in Lancashire and Merseyside, including a Parisian-inspired patisserie-maker who creates an elaborate fraisier, two pie manufacturers who struggle to produce tea cakes and a pair of cake-makers who are forced to bake their first bread loaf in years.

Independent bakeries compete to impress judges Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell.

Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell challenge two cake-making mothers from Perthshire, a French-style Edinburgh boulangerie and a team of traditional family bakers to create a product that combines pistachio and meringue. They are then asked to prepare Arbroath smokie tarts side by side in the same kitchen.

Contestants push themselves to the limit in the hope of impressing judges Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell. A self-taught cake-maker competes against the owners of a traditional shop who have a passion for heritage baking and members of a family-run business from Carlisle. They must all make filo pastry, and then perfect their damson upside-down cakes.

The four bakeries in the Scotland and north-west England regional final go head to head, facing two tough tasks working side by side in the same kitchen. They attempt an innovative afternoon tea to impress judges Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell, followed by technically challenging flourless chocolate cake with ganache and berries. Three outfits are eliminated, leaving one to go through.

As the competition heads to the south-east of England, representatives of three bakeries from East Anglia - a worldly Australian, a Norfolk heritage bread baker, and a quirky pair of siblings - are put through their paces. They are challenged to get creative with enriched dough and spinach, and rustle up 13 lemon meringue pies against the clock.

Three diverse London establishments go head to head, as they are challenged to make piped orange Viennese biscuits for judges Peter Sidwell and Mich Turner. Taking part are a pair of flamboyant Americans, a Turkish Cypriot and a French pattissiere.

Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell oversee proceedings as contestants from the Home Counties enter the fray. A perfectionist baker brings precision to the competition, and a British traditionalist makes an impression with his bloomer loaf, while a pair of young cake-makers struggle with their shortcrust pastry. 

Three bakeries from Kent and Sussex compete, including a father-and-son team who cook up some Italian food. A pair of bread gurus take inspiration from the classic dessert Black Forest gateau, and a cupcake-making couple feel the pressure when they are challenged to make some savoury cheese straws.

The heat winners take their place in the south-east England regional final, working side by side in the same kitchen to create an afternoon tea. The stakes are raised when Mich Turner and Peter Sidwell task the four bakeries with making a challenging orange chiffon cake with Swiss meringue butter cream - and only one can go through to the semi-final.