Life Of Pies lifts the shortcrust pastry lid on the British Pie Awards, celebrating the tradition and passion that goes into making the perfect pastry parcel.

The pie business is anything but humble. Brits spend £1.2 billion a year on them, with 75 percent of us eating at least one a month.

The British Pie Awards is the pie industry’s event of the year, taking over Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire - home of the Pork Pie.

Our cameras have been following some of the 200 bakers as they prepare for the annual competition, hoping to win the pie-makers Holy Grail, the coveted 'Pie Of Pies' trophy. Past winners have seen their small businesses boom and their prized pies sold in Harrods.

Don’t be fooled by the competition’s venue at Melton’s St Mary’s Church. Once Reverend Kevin Ashby’s ceremonial 'blessing of the pie' is over, the oven gloves are off! Beneath the bunting and stained glass, old rivalries set butchers against bakers and region against region.

The competition is no stranger to controversy and scandal: a pasty won in 2016 amid cries of “that’s not a pie!” and this year’s competition sparks a new debate...

Life Of Pies is part of BBC One’s Our Lives series - a collection of programmes from across the UK celebrating the diversity of our society.

Jacqui.Meddings@bbc.co.uk