Alison Hammond and I first meet in a manufacturing kitchen at Pinewood Studios, the place she is rinsing a teacup and recounting a near-fall she had moments earlier than. In reality, I hear her earlier than I see her, such is the facility of her cackle. A number of different girls are within the kitchen together with her and so they, too, are laughing, so the ambiance is loud and raucous and, for a customer strolling in chilly, mildly startling.
It’s mid-July. She is filming The Nice Movie star Bake Off, an offshoot of the principle sequence that airs in December and is Christmas-themed. The Bake Off tent, which is connected to the manufacturing kitchen, is adorned with baubles. By means of its home windows I can see a skinny blanket of synthetic snow. Hammond is carrying a protracted purple gown and a face of make-up and appears match for a celebration.
That is her second yr as a Bake Off presenter, a job she took over from Matt Lucas and which has confirmed her place amongst followers as a nationwide treasure. Her appointment is the fruits of a hard-won 22-year tv profession that started when she was forged within the third sequence of Massive Brother. When she was approached by the Bake Off crew, she warned, “I can’t do something aside from Alison.” To her shock, the response was optimistic. “They have been like, ‘Yeah, that’s what we wish.’ So I’m going in and I do me. Isn’t it good?”
The Nice British Bake Off is filmed within the grounds of a nation residence in Berkshire. The superstar model is shot instantly afterwards, right here on a Pinewood garden, in a smaller model of the identical tent. Presenting each exhibits entails a gruelling, months-long manufacturing schedule, although I see no indicators of tiredness in Hammond, whose enthusiasm is boundless in a method I recognise from tv, nor in her Bake Off co-presenter, the comic Noel Fielding, who is usually quieter and extra outwardly studied.
Hammond characterises her partnership with Fielding as “a seamless, lovely partnership that simply form of works”. For some time, I sit in entrance of a wall of displays and watch them carry out on set collectively, exploring this or that avenue for comedic content material, talking with the bakers, providing reassurance when one thing just isn’t fairly proper. Fielding has described his position on the present as “pastoral”. Hammond agrees. “It’s in regards to the bakers,” she says, then considers briefly. “You wish to form of preserve them calm. And I can, I feel. I’m a chilled affect. It’s the care you’ve gotten with folks. And I do care.”
Bake Off is a heat hug of a present and Hammond is a pure hugger. Once we are launched she refers to me as “Mr Journalist” and pulls me into an embrace. Every so often whereas I’m watching her on the displays she slips away from filming and seems in entrance of me, wanting to speak. As soon as she comes to inform me the complete story of her earlier near-fall. Subsequent she seems to substantiate we’re to satisfy once more at a later date. “OK, Mr Journalist!” she says once I nod. Quickly after that she turns up holding trays of meals meant for the crew. “Bruschetta?” she asks. “A biscuit?” (“We now have Alison give out the snacks,” a producer jokes.)
Later, when she has left the set and the ambiance has grow to be noticeably quieter, however much less thrilling, I ask the producer what makes Hammond a very good presenter. “Typically the crew is a bit drained,” she says, “and Alison will stroll in and convey everybody up.” She and plenty of others consider Hammond’s exceptional enthusiasm as her greatest skilled energy. “It’s nice at work,” the producer says. “However it should be a nightmare at residence.”
Hammond and I meet once more every week later in London. It’s a shiny sizzling Friday afternoon. She has spent many of the day in a photograph studio honouring press commitments for Bake Off. Earlier than that she offered an episode of This Morning, the place she has been engaged on and off for 20 years. When This Morning’s principal hosts are away, She typically fills in, alongside Dermot O’Leary; since 2020, the pair have offered the present collectively each Friday. Once I greet Hammond now she is heat, however much less buoyant than she was within the tent – I discover solely slightly of her onscreen enthusiasm. Then she slumps in a chair reverse me.
Hammond is 49. In some ways Bake Off has been life-changing. “I went to Wimbledon the opposite day,” she says. “I by no means obtained invited to Wimbledon. And a few random American man comes as much as me and says, ‘Oh my God, are you Alison from the baking present?’” Her first sequence was successful, however afterwards she “wanted to decompress”. It is going to be the identical this yr. “As you go additional by way of the expertise you are likely to care extra.” Final season, she was stunned to cry when the bakers left. “I was like, ‘What’s going on?’”
I ask why she thinks she was chosen for the position. “I don’t know,” she says, after which, “I don’t assume anybody else needed to do it.” Later she provides, “Hear, I’ve been speaking to most of the people for 22 years. It’s what I love.”(At Pinewood, a longtime Bake-Off staffer advised me, “I don’t assume even Alison is aware of how a lot we needed her.”) This Morning, the place Hammond grew to become a reporter in 2002, has introduced her to a large viewers. However Bake Off is totally different. “It’s worldwide,” she says. “It’s an establishment, larger than something I assumed I’d do.”
Hammond was raised in a council home in Kingstanding, a Birmingham suburb, and has one of many best Brummie accents on tv. Her mother and father immigrated, individually, from Jamaica, however didn’t stay collectively. Her father labored as a bodyguard for Muhammad Ali at any time when the boxer visited England (three of his kids have “Ali” of their title). She has described him as “a giant man with a giant presence”, however he was not typically round. “My dad would arrive periodically, present his face, and return to Jamaica. Which was bizarre, as a result of he used to faux he was the very best dad on the earth.” Nonetheless, he was pleased with her. When she visited Jamaica, “He’d drive me round asking folks, ‘Have you learnt who that is?’ And so they’d say, ‘That’s your daughter, Mr Hammond.’”
In her memoir, You’ve Received to Snicker, revealed in 2022, she writes that she doesn’t maintain her father’s absence in opposition to him. “Individuals are folks,” she says now. “We are able to’t depend on them.” Hammond says this with out unwell feeling. Then she provides, “And it didn’t trouble me as a result of I had my mum.”
Hammond has written that she was “obsessed” together with her mom, Maria, who raised her and a half-brother and half-sister alone. Once I carry this up, she says, “I used to be obsessed, sure,” and likewise, “I’d all the time be at my bed room window ready for her automobile to come back across the nook.” The obsession was reciprocal, she says. “I feel she felt responsible my father wasn’t round, so she would all the time give me greater than my brother and sister, extra consideration. I used to be spoiled, as a result of that they had theirs round.”
Hammond describes her mom as a grafter. “She had a council home, however she by no means claimed the dole.” As an alternative, she held a number of jobs – as a nurse, a on line casino cashier, an usherette, a Tupperware supervisor and a movie and TV additional – typically concurrently. She may inform how nicely her mom was doing by what number of containers of Tupperware she needed to climb over in an effort to attain the lavatory.
On the cellphone to me, Dermot O’Leary praised Hammond’s work ethic and grit. Hammond says she developed it from her mom, a single father or mother who was each “mum and pa” and a solo supplier. “She labored so exhausting and she or he was so good at it.” Hammond believes that onerous work is “within the blood”.
In her memoir, she writes it could be unattainable to not be optimistic and stuffed with vitality having grown up round her mom. “She used to sing,” she says. “The home can be full of laughter. Folks would come over, she’d cook dinner.” Hammond’s residence was typically visited by Black girls who influenced her – she referred to as them aunties. “Everyone arrived wanting trendy,” she has written. They might take heed to reggae, calypso and Abba; furnishings can be moved to make method for dancing. She discovered so much, “within the sense of sturdy girls taking care of girls, girls educating girls”. The home grew to become central to many lives. Even when her mom later grew to become unwell, she “needed everybody over,” Hammond says. “I used to be like, ‘You’re dying, mum.’ And he or she was like, ‘Allow them to come, allow them to come.’”
Her mom was identified with most cancers in 2019, and died in 2020, having contracted sepsis. Her father died six months later. She was together with her mom in her remaining moments. When she finally left the hospital, at 6am, a fan approached cheerfully and requested for her image. “I’ll be trustworthy with you,” she writes in her ebook. “I wasn’t within the temper to have a photograph with this girl. However I assumed, You recognize what? It would make this girl completely satisfied. It’ll make her day.” Hammond obliged. “I smiled within the picture,” she goes on, “however behind the smile there was such unhappiness.”
Once I ask about life since her mom’s loss of life, she describes “an enormous, gaping gap – nonetheless”. Her mom influenced each a part of her life. “I’d go to her about every thing” – together with males – “and she or he’d give her opinion. She’d say, ‘He’s not for you, Alison. He doesn’t carry something to the desk.’” She is now reported to be in a relationship with a youthful man from Russia.
Hammond was raised Christian. When she was younger, she was inspired to have a Bible together with her always. “Each morning we must say ‘Thanks,’” she remembers. “Actually a ‘thanks’ to God for waking us up.” The observe taught her gratitude, which in flip has inspired her to “embrace and love life, genuinely.” Once I ask what she feels grateful for now, she replies, “For my physique. I feel my physique is unbelievable. And I’ve had a child and he’s very wholesome.” Hammond’s son, Aidan, is nineteen. She cut up amicably from his father not lengthy after he was born. Like her mom, she has developed a profitable profession whereas elevating a toddler as a single father or mother, one other expertise for which she is grateful. Gratitude, she says, has “modified my perspective on every thing. You go, ‘Oh, yeah, this is a present.’”
When Hammond was a lady, her mom dreamed of turning into an actor and she or he inspired her to be one, too. When she was six, she appeared in a movie referred to as Artemis 81, through which she might be seen slumped in a automobile (“We needed to faux to be lifeless”). She later joined the Central Junior Tv Workshop, a drama college in Birmingham, and auditioned for appearing elements. “It was being in entrance of different those who thrilled me,” she says. “I would simply present up in entrance of a digital camera.” Even when she was very younger, Hammond appreciated to carry out. “I’d do cartwheels, although I used to be a giant woman. And I appreciated the truth that folks would say, ‘Wow, look how large you’re – and you are able to do that!’ I appreciated shocking folks.”
As a toddler, she was identified with dyslexia and she or he was a late reader. At drama college she struggled to learn scripts spontaneously, which brought on her to overlook out on roles. Studying aloud can nonetheless make her nervous. However she was a quick learner – “You may present me one thing as soon as and I’d have the ability to do it” – and she or he had a remarkably optimistic perspective. “I’ve seen these individuals who have been actually clever, however whose attitudes sucked and, as a result of they didn’t have the perspective, they didn’t get anyplace.” Enthusiasm, she says, “will propel you thru something.”
In her 20s, she labored summers as an entertainer in a Tunisian resort resort. In England, she took odd jobs, however “I’d get bored, work some time, transfer on to one thing totally different.” When a good friend talked about Massive Brother, then a comparatively new actuality TV programme, she was £4,000 in debt. Have been she to win the present, she would earn £70,000. As her utility, Hammond despatched in a house videotape of her impersonating a police officer on an evening out in Newquay.
Hammond was the second contestant to be evicted from the Massive Brother home in 2002. She had earned a fanbase by leaping on, and breaking, a picnic desk within the backyard, then half-denying the gaffe, hilariously, within the Diary Room. Contestants had been advised they have been liable to pay for any injury they brought on and she or he hoped to flee the invoice.
For some time after her exit she was interviewed throughout radio and tv. Then the following housemate was evicted and the eye diverted elsewhere – Hammond was in the home with Jade Goody and Adele Roberts, amongst others, who additionally grew to become stars; she stays buddies with the season’s eventual winner, Kate Lawler. After her exit, she returned to previous employers for work, however they turned her away, citing her fame as disruptive, and she or he briefly signed on to the dole. She visited the job centre carrying a disguise, which didn’t work. When she left, a safety guard she knew mentioned, “All proper, Al?”
A couple of months later, producers at This Morning requested her to current an everyday food plan phase. Quickly afterwards she was invited to interview George Clooney, which birthed her profession as a This Morning superstar interviewer, a job she appears made for. She typically solely has 5 minutes to talk with celebrities, however the outcomes are often hilarious and sometimes nicely shared. She as soon as started an interview with Denzel Washington with the road, “Badass, vigilante, large, Black, lovely, scary, however that’s sufficient about me, babes,” instantly disarming one in all Hollywood’s greatest actors. O’Leary advised me he believes folks underestimate Hammond’s abilities as an interviewer: “her curiosity, her empathy,” and, although she is understood to be somebody who talks, her capacity to be quiet in the appropriate moments.
A couple of days earlier than we meet, Hammond had gone viral for sharing that she has nude footage of herself round her home. The publicity doesn’t appear to trouble her. She has gone viralcountless instances all through her profession , typically for some form of gaffe: getting caught on a door deal with throughout a stay This Morning phase, by accident pushing a colleague into the water at Liverpool’s Albert Docks. She is often celebrated within the press. However she can be routinely criticised, within the tabloids and throughout social media, and the criticism is usually vitriolic. Hammond is a rarity in tv: a giant, Black girl with a regional accent. It might probably appear as if that is an excessive amount of for some. Once I ask if she feels the criticism she receives is sexist, or racist, she interrupts, “Or sizeist?”
“Or sizeist,” I agree. “In the end I don’t care what different folks assume,” she says. “That sounds prefer it doesn’t trouble me. It does. However I feel I’m ok and it’s me I wish to impress.” She has discovered there are viewers who won’t ever like what she does, however that “most individuals who criticise others don’t love themselves”. Later she provides, “I imply, I’m completely satisfied plodding alongside in my lovely Black pores and skin in my large chubby physique.”
In 2007, she was left unused by This Morning and had no different work lined up. “There was a time once I couldn’t pay my mortgage,” she says, “and I used to be actually well-known.” She obtained a job on the native hairdressers. If a buyer recognised her, she would say she was serving to out, then “I’d reply the cellphone, do a number of blow dries.” Aidan, nonetheless very younger, was at residence; her mom helped them financially. When she remembers the story, she begins to cry, then goes on. “It’s not all good the entire time. However I used to be all proper, ? That’s tv, it’s fickle and it’s a part of my journey, a part of my energy.” She says Bake Off may not need her again subsequent yr, “and that’s OK. I do know I’ll be OK, as a result of I’ve been OK earlier than. I’ll go and work at Tesco and other people will nonetheless love me.”
Hammond moved home not way back and says, “I really feel I deserve it, I’ve labored exhausting for this.” Just lately she has been contemplating working much less – maybe there are issues she may do aside from tv. Final month, she introduced the publication of a romance novel. “When my mum handed I needed to ask, ‘Proper, why am I doing this? Is that this who I’m?’” She realised that “I’m nonetheless doing it for her, I’m nonetheless dwelling her dream. And I do know she’s watching. She advised me earlier than she died: ‘I’ll be watching, Alison.’ I mentioned, ‘Yeah, however not on a regular basis. Not once I’m with a fella.’” She lets free a giant giggle, then provides, “She mentioned, ‘I’ll be there.’” ■
The brand new season of The Nice British Bake Off returns subsequent month on Channel 4
