THE embattled BBC should take care that the relatively fresh Great British Bake Off doesn’t collapse into self-parody like a soggy soufflé – or like a couple of the corporation's other flagship shows.

I tried to watch this year's first Apprentice but couldn’t stick beyond the opening montage. The worst line-up to date, narcissistic, delusional, and loud – and the contestants looked even less appetising. When a once-lively format freezes into a cartoon strip, it’s time to retire it.

Gone the same way is the gruesome Strictly Come Dancing. Its death warrant was signed when Sir Bungling Forsyth was voted off – not before time – to be replaced by the grating Claudia Winkleman. She’s got a slightly higher IQ than the rest and likes to show it off, so she’s begun to send up all the fake luvvydom.

I hear there’s a party game played among Bright Young Things in London. Watching Strictly, round a table laden with brimming shot glasses, one has to down a drink "every time Tess Daly goes dead behind the eyes”. I understand the tequila has generally run out well before the special guest comes on to sing/mime.

Martin Ketterer,

Tavistock Drive, Newlands, Glasgow.