Alison Hammond and I first meet in a production kitchen at Pinewood Studios, where she is rinsing a teacup and recounting a near-fall she had moments before. In truth, I hear her before I see her, such is the power of her cackle. Several other women are in the kitchen with her and they, too, are laughing, so the atmosphere is loud and raucous and, for a visitor walking in cold, mildly startling.
It is mid-July. She is filming , an offshoot of the main series that airs in December and is Christmas-themed. The tent, which is attached to the production kitchen, is decorated with baubles.
Through its windows I can see a thin blanket of artificial snow. Hammond is wearing a long purple dress and a face of makeup and seems fit for a party. This is her second year as a presenter, a role she took over from and which has confirmed her position among fans as a national treasure.
Her appointment is the culmination of a hard-won 22-year television career that began when she was cast in the third series of . When she was approached by the team, she warned, “I can’t do anything other than Alison.” To her surprise, the response was positive.
“They were like, ‘Yeah, that’s what we want.’ So I go in and I do me. Isn’t it good?” is filmed in the grounds of a in Berkshire.
The celebrity version is shot immediately afterwards, here on a Pinewood lawn, in a smaller version of the same tent. Presenting both shows involves a gruelling, months-long production schedule, though I see.