GREAT Baddow’s town crier has high ambitions for a family recipe which delighted tastebuds on a TV show.

Tony Appleton, 76, of Baddow Road, took the bread and butter pudding his mother and grandmother passed on to him to compete in ITV’s Food Glorious Food, presented by Carol Vorderman.

After being championed by judge Tom Parker-Bowles, the dish went up against three others for the chance to move on to the grand final and the overall prize of being sold in Marks and Spencers.

Although he lost out to a chicken tikka dish, Tony, who runs the English Town Crier company, said the experience was great fun and now hopes to get the pudding out in the public.

He said: “I wasn’t nervous. It was so exciting and everyone was so nice, especially Tom Parker-Bowles who put my dish into the last four.

“When it was announced I was going through to the final four, I got a bit emotional because it really brought back memories of my mum Dolly and I know she was looking down on me at that moment.

“Now it’s been on the show, I am hoping the phone starts ringing. Knowing others enjoyed my pudding made me feel really good and I’m at the top of the tree.”

Ingredients in the pudding include marmalade and the zest from lemons and oranges.

But Tony said the ingredient which makes the big difference with his family’s dish is the rum in it, which was added at his suggestion while serving in the Navy.

“I joined the Royal Navy when I was 17 and when I used to come home on leave my mum would make the bread and butter pudding,” he said.

“When I came home, I used to bring back a bottle of rum and I said one day why don’t we put some in, which we did and ever since then it has stuck.”

The recipe is available in a book published from the TV series and on ITV’s website.