OH CRUMBS, we're nearly at the end of the Bake Off.

I usually go to any lengths to avoid reality TV and couldn't tell you who is on Strictly or if Celebrity Big Brother has even finished yet.

But there's something comforting about the gentle dramas of the baking tent.

Now a stalwart of the BBC schedule, the Great British Bake Off has - like the best of its bakes - been slow and steady all the way, with a gradual rise in ratings as well as the dough. It's now one of BBC's firm favourites of the year. The cherry on the icing of the cake.

My addiction to the series is a mystery to me as I don't bake. Well, not much.

I'd far rather cook up a curry than a cake and I prefer cheese to chocolate, but the self-deprecating humour and genuine camaraderie of the bakers has won me over.

Not for them the blatant self-promotion and falsely concocted crises of the "celebrities" in the Big Brother House, or the tabloid gossip surrounding X Factor hopefuls.

You can pick up a national paper safe in the knowledge that you're not going to be confronted with lurid tales from Norman's ex-conquests or Martha's battle with the bulge.

This is one reality TV show that's not mired in the hype and hard-sell of contestants' private lives. It does what it says on the tin. It's about the baking.

Since it began in August, after moving from BBC2 to BBC1, it's been going from strength to strength and the "sensations" of Bingate - and suggestions of sabotage to Ian's baked Alaska - saw ratings peak, like a stiff whisked meringue, at 10.2 million.

Even the dramas though, are quickly smoothed over, like a sweet Royal icing. Diana's "sabotage" of Ian's pudding, previous controversies over the appropriation of custard, and Paul Hollywood's "flirting" with last year's Ruby Tandoh are quickly put to bed and forgotten.

THERE is no big prize, no promise of celebrity and riches, no Mr Shouty adjudicating.

What we have got, in judges Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry, are people who know their stuff and have honed their skills over decades.

In a world focused on war and terror, there's something to be said for mindless escapism into the baking tent where the most there is to worry about is whether Nancy can hang on for another week or if Richard will ever lose the pencil from behind his ear.

Bake Off is a triumph of sugar sweetness over sensationalism, homely values over showbiz.

The first shows, which slipped almost under the radar on to screens four years ago, were watched by two million. Since then, it has got its dough hooks into the public.

And there's even bunting. What more could you want?