Soap star crowned winner of Great Christmas Bake Off special

Chris Bisson has won the soap special of The Great Christmas Bake Off.

The Channel 4 baking show saw EastEnders’ Natalie Cassidy, Coronation Street and Emmerdale star Bisson, EastEnders’ Dean Gaffney, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks star Sheree Murphy and Coronation Street’s Shobna Gulati face off for the festive title.

“I won the Bake Off, I can’t believe it,” Bisson said, adding it was “really lovely” to have all his friends and family at the Bake Off tent to witness his success.

After the actor was crowned champion, singer Paloma Faith performed for the stars.

Judge Paul Hollywood said it was a “very close” decision between fellow Emmerdale star Murphy, but Bisson “got better and better”.

And judge Dame Prue Leith said Bisson “had to win” because his final showstopper challenge was “just so amazing, he was really showing off his baking skills”.

For their first challenge, the soap stars were asked to bake a yule log with festive fillings and decorations, while Hollywood set them a festive technical challenge to bake a batch of four mini meringue Christmas trees, layered with a burnt honey cream and a spiced cranberry compote.

Murphy, who played Trisha Dingle in Emmerdale, won the technical challenge, with Hollywood saying her trees “look pretty good” and added that the flavours were “all pretty good”, and said they were “beautifully designed”.

After winning the challenge, she said: “Wow, I can’t believe what’s happening today, best Christmas ever.”

It came after she had previously received a Hollywood handshake for her tiramisu yule log, which he described as having a “lovely shape”, while fellow judge Dame Prue told her “you should be proud of that”.

Hollywood said: “I love tiramisu, big fan of tiramisu, it’s the blend between the alcohol, the cream, the sponge, and the top.

“So you’ve ended up with something that’s actually very, very nice, that sponge is delicious to eat.”

Bisson, who plays Jai Sharma in Emmerdale, received a handshake for his biscuit bake of carol singers outside the Woolpack, which Hollywood described as “a very, very good bake” saying it was “clever”, “neat” and “tidy”.

During the episode, a humorous moment saw Cassidy, who played Sonya Fowler in EastEnders, reveal to presenter Alison Hammond that Dot Cotton actress June Brown had told her, “darling, it’s like pooing a melon”, when she was due to give birth in the show as Sonia Fowler at the age of 15.