Career
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. Her catchment area for demonstrations was limited to the greater Bath area, which she drove around in a Ford Popular supplied as a company car.
Her ambition was to move out of the family home to London, which her parents would not allow until she was 21. At the age of 22, she applied to work at the Dutch Dairy Bureau, while taking City & Guilds courses in the evenings. She then persuaded her manager to pay for her to undertake the professional qualification from the French Le Cordon Bleu school.
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 February 2015, Berry featured in a programme in aid of the Third World charity Comic Relief. 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.
