We are now a few weeks into the new season, and once again it’s gratifying to see no preening egos, no cheating and a lack of petulant behaviour. Millions of people are once again getting their weekly televisual fix, with a very open field meaning second guessing who will be champion is a pointless task. No, I don’t mean football.
But what I am talking about is equally popular as a TV event, with exactly the same number of people tuning in to last year’s final as switched on for the FA Cup Final. I’m talking, of course, about the Great British Bake Off, that gentle, quintessentially British programme which has nevertheless spawned spin-offs in places as far flung as Australia and Brazil, Kenya and Uruguay. Even France, which surely can justifiably view itself as the world leader when it comes to bread and patisserie, has adopted the format.
This enthusiasm for TV baking has been proving for a long time. This year is the 15th series of the show, and after it transferred from the BBC to Channel 4 in 2017, Bake Off managed to retain its immense viewing figures, easily becoming the channel’s most watched show. The 2023 final was watched by more than five times more people than the final of Love Island.
In an era of celebrity obsession, big-budget Netflix dramas and mindless yet curiously popular reality shows, how come a simple amateur baking show remains one of British television’s greatest hits? I think the answer lies in that word ‘amateur’. Enormously impressi.
