COOKING up history were Celebrity Masterchef contestants as they catered for a Bronte feast in Haworth.

The semi-final of the popular show, filmed in the village last Easter, will be screened tonight on BBC One.

The remaining contestants – including boxer Audley Harrison, comedian Tommy Cannon and Eastenders actor Sid Owen – will be seen cooking meals in marquees in the meadow behind the Bronte Parsonage Museum.

They will then serve about 70 specially-invited guests in the Old School Rooms, on Church Street, where the Bronte sisters taught during the 1800s.

Guests, who went along in period costume, included members of the Bronte Society, Bronte Parsonage Museum staff and their families, and some villagers.

The contestants were seen marching up historic Main Street in the closing credits of last Thursday’s episode of Celebrity Masterchef.

Among those tucking into food such as roast lamb with Wuthering veg, hake a la Rochester and Branwell Bronte pud were Bronte Parsonage Museum marketing officer Rebecca Yorke and her daughter Mala.

Rebecca said the Bronte Society was delighted to be invited to host an episode of Celebrity Masterchef, but those involved were asked not to tell anyone how the filming went.

Some staff were simply told in advance that a “BBC cookery series” was coming to the village.

Rebecca said: “We didn’t know it was Celebrity Masterchef until they turned up. It was great fun hosting the programme.

“Shine TV asked Bronte Society members, staff and other guests to be colourful. They asked if we wanted to dress up.

“They used the meadow for the marquees and we had a meal in the Old School Rooms.

“As part of the filming members of the Parsonage staff read extracts from Bronte novels like Jane Eyre. Then the contestants walked round the village.”

Rebecca said that thanks to witnessing the filming, since the first episode on TV she had been aware of who would drop out.

When the contestants and guests were milling around in public areas like Church Street and Changegate, several local photographers took pictures of the filming.

They also snapped the semi-finalists from a distance cooking in the marquees.

Some of the photographs were posted on social media in the spring and summer despite requests from the BBC not to identify who had reached the semi-finals.

Celebrity Masterchef will be screened today on BBC1 at 8pm, showing the celebrities at work in the marquee kitchens in freezing conditions.