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The three chefs are halfway through their heat and the pressure is mounting. Once again, they each serve a unique take on the brief. For mains, one of the chefs gets to meet famous author of War Horse, Michael Morpurgo, which spurs him on in his dish of beef steak with sweet vernal hay, inspired by Joey鈥檚 hay box. Another chef is going all out with a pork cheek and celeriac lasagne dish celebrating the Three Little Pigs fairy story. And there is an homage to the three farmers Boggis, Bunce and Bean in Fantastic Mr Fox. In the run-up to service, one of the chefs discovers the water bath isn鈥檛 cooking his meat at the right temperature and he has to think on his feet fast.

After the nail-biting scoring on the mains, presenter Susan Calman asks the chefs to prepare a pre-dessert, or pre-pudding pudding, as she likes to call it. This is the second of the new mini-courses that will be served at this year鈥檚 banquet. Veteran judge Tommy Banks blind-tastes and ranks them in the case of a tie, so the chefs need to produce the very best dishes they can.

After a glimpse of their pudding skills, it is on to dessert. There is a tribute to Nick Butterworth鈥檚 One Snowy Night, made up of a white chocolate and bone marrow cremeux covered in a buttermilk granita to resemble a snowy night, a Faraway Tree-inspired dessert made up of complex textures of chocolate and blackberries, and a Winnie the Pooh dish of Ashdown honey-soaked whisky baba and condensed milk ice cream. Two of the chefs must remake elements as the pressure of the competition gets to them and recipes don鈥檛 go to plan. Who will keep their cool and have a bestselling dish?

Only two proceed to Friday鈥檚 judging and have a chance to represent London and south east England at the regional finals.