It’s lingerie time for The Great British Sewing Bee

Although some viewers were hooked from the start, it arguably took a while for The Great British Sewing Bee to capture the public’s imagination, especially compared to its sister show, The Great British Bake Off.

Maybe it’s because while many people have whipped up a cake or a batch of buns at some point in their lives, even if the results were unlikely to have impressed Paul Hollywood, fewer of us can claim to have attempted to make our own clothes.

Gradually though, viewers realised that even if you don’t really know what an overlocker is, there are still plenty of things to enjoy about Sewing Bee.

For a start, there’s the presenter Sara Pascoe, who is doing a fine job of taking over from her predecessor, Joe Lycett. Then there’s the contestants who, in grand Sewing Bee tradition, are a likeable bunch – even if there’s sometimes a bit of scrum to choose their fabric, they can often be found helping each other out and offering encouragement. And of course, there’s also the judges, the suave Patrick Grant and Esme Young, who offers the occasional tantalising glimpse into her pre-Sewing Bee life.

Regular viewers will remember the time she casually mentioned in passing that she once watched the Notting Hill Carnival in the company of David Bowie. Then earlier this series, when contestant Steve explained his summer two-piece outfit was inspired by Leonardo DiCaprio’s shirts in the movie Romeo + Juliet, Esme revealed she was the one who made them.

It’s not her only cinematic claim to fame – her other creations include the bunny girl outfit Renée Zellweger wore in Bridget Jones’s Diary. Esme remembers: “Renee wanted the bunny outfit to be tighter because her character wasn’t skinny. She could hardly sit down in it because it was so tight.”

But while most of her film work was behind the scene, Esme is currently enjoying her experience of small-screen stardom. She says: “Sewing Bee is such a positive programme. Nobody who stops me in the street because they recognise me has ever been negative.”

Let’s hope that positivity continues this week as the tension in the sewing room is ramping up. A place in the quarter final is at stake, and to get it, the remaining contestants are going to have to master the delicate art of making lingerie.

First, presenter Sara Pascoe informs them that for their pattern challenge, the judges want them to make a lace underwired bra along with matching knickers. It’s a fiddly job involving small pattern pieces, and Patrick and Esme will be expecting perfection.

The transformation challenge involves turning thermal underwear into outerwear you would be seen in public in during daylight hours, and then finally, for the all-important made to measure, male models arrive in the sewing room, ready to be fitted for a pair of luxury pyjamas. But who will be lounging their way through to next week, and who will be going home?