The Bake Off is back, but will I hear a word of it?

In a world where ‘reaction’ is all, Will Gore wishes his kids could watch the telly in awed silence

‘The Great British Bake Off’ remains a cultural touchstone. Although if watched in the Gore household, the key ingredient is earplugs (Getty)

Sometimes, I convince myself that I nearly invented Gogglebox. I’m pretty sure that a year or so before it launched in 2013, I said to my wife that a cool idea for a show would be watching people’s reaction to TV programmes.

My wife doesn’t remember this flash of brilliance. And if it happened, I obviously didn’t do anything about it, whereas someone else was presumably already on the case. Still, I can take comfort from the fact that I was – unless my memory is playing tricks – part of the zeitgeist, just as I will be when tank tops come back in.

Anyway, Gogglebox is of course a great show. But it has a lot to answer for.