A cooking show devoid of sabotage and sport

With the new television season well underway, have you noticed how many of the best programs are from Great Britain? Certainly my very favorite is.

Broadcast by PBS, the show features a variety of characters from various walks of life speaking with distinctive English accents. There is lots of drama, intrigue, conflict and suspense. And it's all shot on location at a British manor house.

No, it's not "Downton Abbey," but it has been called the Downton Abbey of cooking programs. It's "The Great British Baking Show," a British import that has been a ratings phenomenon for the last six seasons in England.

A culinary competition program, it is unlike anything you'll find today on America's Food Network. That's because a funny thing has happened to the Food Network over the last decade. The majority, if not all, of its prime time programs are only tangentially related to cooking.

When the Food Network first went on the air, it offered primarily programs designed to show viewers how to cook. Then, about 10 years ago, the emphasis changed. That's when "Iron Chef," a program which transforms cooking into a gladiator sport, premiered. It made network executives realize that competition programs could attract even viewers who aren't that much into food. Even Alton Brown abandoned his inimitable program "Good Eats," a delightful blend of cooking and culinary science, for something called "Cutthroat Kitchen" in which contestants are goaded into sabotaging their rivals.

Raisin-studded cream cheese is spread between layers of dough to create the ultimate British scone, one that doesn't need clotted cream as an accessory. (TOM HARTE)

Thus, these days if you tune in to the Food Network you are likely to see a formulaic reality show complete with bombastic hosts, screaming celebrity chefs and conniving contestants, all in pursuit of some contrived objective while bellicose music plays in the background. To show how far removed from gastronomy the network has become, there is now a show featuring "America's Worst Cooks."

You will see nothing like this on "The Great British Baking Show." Indeed, it's just the opposite. Every contestant is likable. They'll even help each other, and they seem genuinely sad to see a rival eliminated. The judges, Paul Hollywood, a master baker, and Mary Berry, a classy cookbook author, are always supportive and never demeaning in their critiques.

Shot in a big tent on the grounds of Harptree Court in Somerset, the show pits true amateurs, not would-be celebrity chefs, against one another. This season's contestants, for example, include a dentist, a horticulturist, a carpenter and a university student.

Each episode revolves around a theme such as cakes or pies and is divided into three segments: a signature bake where contestants prepare their version of a standard dish; a technical bake where contestants prepare a dish with only minimal instructions; and a showstopper where they go all out to fix a masterpiece.

At the end of each episode a star baker for the week is crowned and someone is eliminated until at season's end only one remains to receive the grand prize: not thousands in cash or their own TV show, but an engraved cake plate.

Typically sitting close enough to lick the television screen, Tom Harte never misses an episode of the Great British Baking Show, the most civilized cooking show on the air.

This may all sound rather uneventful, but if you like to cook the show offers plenty of excitement as cakes fall, fillings ooze, and pastries refuse to come out of their pans. Nevertheless, contestants keep calm and carry on, which makes "The Great British Baking Show" the most civilized cooking program on television.

Great British Scones

Quintessential teatime treats, scones go well with any British TV show. Stuffed with cream cheese, this version, adapted from The Wall Street Journal, obviates the need for clotted cream.

Cream cheese oozes from between the layers of this version of the classic British scone, obviating the need for clotted cream as an adornment and making it the perfect accompaniment to any episode of The Great British Baking Show, the most civilized cooking show on television. (TOM HARTE)

The classic British scone is the perfect accompaniment to viewing The Great British Baking show, especially this version which when cut reveals a filling of cream cheese, making a slathering of clotted cream unnecessary. (TOM HARTE)

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 1 cup cream
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1/3 cup raisins

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and 1/3 cup sugar. Add cream and blend until just combined. Knead dough briefly, divide in two and on floured surface roll each portion out to a 9-inch circle. Beat together cream cheese with 1/2 cup sugar until well combined. Stir in raisins.

Spread mixture on one round of dough and top with the other. Brush top with melted butter and sprinkle with remaining sugar. Score into eight triangular wedges. Baked on ungreased cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes until golden.