Berry's first job was at the Bath
Electricity Board showroom and then conducting home visits to show new customers how to use their electric ovens. She would typically demonstrate the ovens by making a
Victoria sponge, a technique she would later repeat when in television studios to test out an oven she had not used before. She left the Dutch Dairy Bureau to become a recipe tester for PR firm Benson's, where she began to write her first book. She has since cooked for a range of food-related bodies, including the Egg Council and the Flour Advisory Board. In 1966 she became food editor of
Housewife magazine. She was food editor of
Ideal Home magazine from 1970 to 1973. Her first cookbook,
The Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook, was published in 1970. She launched her own product range in 1994 with her daughter Annabel. The salad dressings and sauces were originally only sold at Mary's AGA cooking school, but have since been sold in Britain, Germany and Ireland with retailers such as
Harrods,
Fortnum & Mason and
Tesco. In December 2012, Berry became the first president of the new
Bath Spa University Alumni Association. She has also appeared on a
BBC Two series called
The Great British Food Revival, and her solo show,
Mary Berry Cooks, began airing on 3 March 2014. In her own kitchen, she uses a
KitchenAid mixer which she describes as being the one gadget she could not live without. She has always had an
AGA cooker, and used to run cooking courses for AGA users. She describes
Raymond Blanc's restaurant
Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons as one of her favourites, as well as the Old Queen's Head, local to where she lived in
Penn,
High Wycombe. In May 2015, she began presenting a new BBC Two series called ''Mary Berry's Absolute Favourites
. In November 2015, she was the subject of a two-part biographical documentary entitled The Mary Berry Story
. Starting on 30 November 2015, she was one of the two judges for a four-week American edition of the popular baking competition The Great Holiday Baking Show'' on
ABC, which followed a similar format to the British competition. Berry became President of the National Garden Scheme in 2016; for over 20 years, she had opened her garden for charity. In November 2016, it was announced that Berry would present a new six-part series,
Mary Berry Everyday in which she would share her cooking tips, family favourites and special occasion recipes. The show aired on BBC Two. In April 2017, Berry launched a series of cakes that could be bought from supermarkets. The cakes contain emulsifiers and preservatives that Berry has previously described as "unwanted extras". From 22 November 2017 to 13 December 2017, Berry presented a four-part series called ''Mary Berry's Country House Secrets'' on
BBC One. In this series, she ventured to four of the UK's stately homes and explored each through the prism of food and history. The locations were
Highclere Castle,
Scone Palace,
Powderham Castle and
Goodwood House. In 2018, Berry was a judge on ''
Britain's Best Home Cook'' alongside chef Dan Doherty and
Chris Bavin. Berry's new six-part television cookery series called ''Mary Berry's Simple Comforts'' premiered on BBC Two, 9 September 2020.
Mary Berry Saves Christmas, a BBC One special in which Berry helps a group of amateur cooks make a Christmas feast for their families, was shown on
Christmas Day 2020. In 2021, Berry was a celebrity judge on the
BBC series
Celebrity Best Home Cook alongside
Angela Hartnett and
Chris Bavin; while
Claudia Winkleman was the show's presenter. In December 2021, Berry presented ''Mary Berry's Festive Feasts'', a BBC TV special in which she teaches three novice cooks to create a Christmas feast. In 2022, Berry was named as one of the judges for the
Platinum Pudding, a competition to create a British pudding to celebrate the
Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. In March 2022 BBC One aired the three-part series ''Mary Berry's Fantastic Feasts
. In May 2022, Berry was a judge on the BBC One programme The Jubilee Pudding: 70 Years in the Baking'', where she helped choose a brand new pudding to mark the
Queen's Platinum Jubilee. In June 2022, the
BBC commissioned the BBC Two series
Mary Berry Cook And Share; which premiered on 7 September 2022. In September 2022, the
BBC commissioned ''Mary Berry's Ultimate Christmas'', a
Christmas special that Berry presented. During November and December 2023, Berry presented
Mary Makes It Easy; a six-part series that aired on BBC Two. In December 2023, BBC One aired ''Mary Berry's Highland Christmas''; a festive cookery special presented by Berry. In July 2024 the
BBC commissioned the six-part series ''Mary's Foolproof Dinners
. It aired later in the year on BBC Two, and was accompanied by a book of the same name, that includes 120 new recipes from the series and from Mary Berry's Highland Christmas''.
Mary Makes Christmas, a one-off festive television special aired in December 2024 on
BBC1. On 24 March 2025 a special live edition of BBC's
The One Show featured Berry for a celebration of her 90th birthday. In autumn 2025, Berry presented
Mary at 90: A Lifetime of Cooking; a six-part cookery series featuring some of Berry's favourite recipes. On Christmas Eve 2025,
A Mary Berry Christmas was broadcast on
BBC2, a Christmas cookery programme featuring Berry and celebrities;
Alison Steadman,
Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and
Zoe Ball.
The Great British Bake Off at Cake International London 2013 From 2010 to 2016, Berry was one of the judges on BBC One's (formerly, BBC Two's)
The Great British Bake Off alongside baker
Paul Hollywood, who specialises in bread. Berry says that since working together, she has learned from him. However, some viewers were outraged during the first series when a decision was made to make the contestants use one of Hollywood's recipes for
scones instead of one of Berry's. In September 2016,
Love Productions announced that a three-year deal to broadcast the show on
Channel 4 instead of the BBC from 2017 had been agreed. Co-hosts
Mel Giedroyc and
Sue Perkins announced that they would not be continuing with
Bake Off on its new network. Berry announced she was also leaving
Bake Off on the same day that fellow judge Paul Hollywood announced he would be staying with the show. She was replaced on the show by
Prue Leith. == The Platinum Pudding Competition ==