Q&A with Tim Key

15 March 2023

Can you bake? 

I thought I could. But that’s one of the first things you find out when you get into that tent. I found out several times that no, I can’t bake. 

 

Describe your baking style in one word. 

Limited. 

 

What’s your favourite baked good? 

Are flapjacks baked? I just had one with toffee on from Costcutter. 

 

Do you cook much in everyday life? 

I thought I did, but when you actually sit down and analyse a week, it’s very difficult to find examples where I would genuinely say I’ve cooked. 

 

What’s been your biggest culinary triumph? 

I cooked Christmas dinner for sixty people in St Petersburg once. Not on my own, and I think my bit was being part of a team of people who bought roast chickens that were turning on spits in the meat shop. So again, not cooking per se. But certainly, I was involved. 

 

And your biggest disaster? 

I’d say some of the stuff in the tent is in the conversation. I also ignited a goose one Christmas, but when you Google it you do find that that can happen. And in my case, it did. And it was Christmas day and, realistically, that goose should have been nowhere near my menu. 

 

Are you a fan of Bake Off? 

I haven’t watched it, and I don’t think that helped. I like Dragon’s Den and White Lotus. 

 

What’s it like, walking into the tent for the first time? 

Awkward. You have to chat as you walk and that’s all on camera. I’ve definitely had less stilted conversations over the years. Ad-libbing about what cake we might be about to make is much harder than being in a play or performing poetry in a comedy club, say. 

 

What aspect of the show were you most nervous about? 

Creating something that was neither an amazing piece of baking or so bad that it was funny. But I think most of my efforts fell in that sort of area. 

 

Have you sought advice from anyone ahead of the show? 

Oh yeah, I had some lessons from a friend of mine. She was very patient, but I think she realised fairly early on that there wasn’t much she could do with me. It’d be like trying to teach people the basics of pole-vaulting in two evenings. Not enough time. And in a way an insult to the craft of pole-vaulting. 

 

Have you done any practice? 

I practiced. But I think the really good ones have kind of practiced for thirty years, as in it’s a part of their lives. When you rattle around your kitchen a couple of weeks before the event it’s less “practice” and more “trying to do it”. 

 

What are the strengths and weaknesses you brought with you into the tent? 

I didn’t tend to panic, that’s a positive. But I did make bad decisions. When you get into areas like “borrowing another actor’s icing” you’re on thin ice. There’s lots of different styles of icing, and you can’t always mix two together. I guess it’s like mixing half a pint of beer with half a pint of coffee and hoping you get a pint of something drinkable. You don’t basically. So, my icing was slimy and got marked down. 

 

What’s it like being faced by Paul and Prue? 

I liked them. Prue in particular looked at me with huge pity. 

 

Why is Stand Up to Cancer important to you? 

Like anyone, you have people in your life who are struck down by it suddenly. It’s brutal. So doing some sieving of flour to help people cure it is a no-brainer. We’re fortunate to be able to do something to help.