Death in Paradise's Ben Miller in fiery Bake Off mishap

Death in Paradise star Ben Miller has a bit of a mishap when it came to baking in the famous tent.

Addressing his appearance on this week's The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer, he told BBC Radio 2's Steve Wright that during a practice session at home, one of his cakes lit up like a "distress flare" because he'd forgotten to switch the hob off.

Love Productions / Channel 4

"Baking is a mystery. When I was practising I made a couple of sponge cakes. One of them actually caught fire," he said.

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"To be fair, I'd forgotten that I'd left the hob on when I took the cake out of the oven to cool.

"I accidentally put it on top of the gas hob and it went up like a distress flare, with a blue flame that shot right up to the ceiling and left a mark on the ceiling. This is how dangerous, this is how frontline baking can be."

Further into their chat, the island of Saint Marie's DI Richard Poole also discussed the immense pressure inside the Bake Off tent.

"The thing I didn't realise about that tent was you feel like you're having an out-of-body experience when you're in that tent. It is beyond anything you can imagine," he said.

"Not only are you up against the clock and up against the other contestants, but it is marshalling your ingredients and making sure you've got everything you need.

"It's the stress that comes from bits of equipment – you fish around in the drawer and you run out of all the things you're supposed to use. And then you're trying to get a cake out of a tin with a corkscrew."

If it was easy, where would the blood, sweat and cream be?

The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer continues on Channel 4 next Tuesday (April 19).