UK Edition
ITV plans to scupper Channel 4's launch of Great British Bake Off
ITV is planning to scupper the Channel 4 relaunch of The Great British Bake Off by scheduling some of its biggest shows against it.
The baking show is returning to our screens after it controversially switched from the BBC, where it spent seven highly successful years.
Channel 4 is thought to have earmarked August 30 as a possible date for the opening episode, which will see Prue Leith take over from Mary Berry.
Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, who presented the BBC show, have been replaced by Sandi Toksvig and the edgy comedian Noel Fielding.
Television insiders say ITV is considering a double episode of its most popular soap, Coronation Street, to broadcast on the same date. In the following weeks, executives may put Doc Martin, the cosy Cornish medical drama, in an overlapping slot.
Both shows threaten to take viewing figures from the new Bake Off, which like its BBC predecessor, is being broadcast on Wednesdays.
There is no love lost between ITV and the makers of Bake Off. ITV were in early discussions about acquiring the programme when it left the BBC, but dropped out of the running.
The commercial broadcaster’s director of television, Kevin Lygo, said last year that he decided not to make an offer when he realised that the original line-up was not attached and he would be buying “baking powder and a tent”.
Broadcasters are not above deliberately scheduling their biggest shows against their rivals, with ITV’s X-Factor going up against BBC One’s Strictly Come Dancing on Saturday nights and Emmerdale regularly scheduled at the same time as East Enders.
Channel 4 paid a reported £75 million for Bake Off, which will now feature adverts and commercial sponsors. The BBC had offered the makers Love Productions a fee of £15m a year to keep the show, but the company would not accept offers below £25m.
The new show’s trailer, which featured scones and croissants singing Paul McCartney’s We All Stand Together - and from which the new line-up of judges and presenters was notably absent - made its debut on social media last week. It met a mixed response, with some viewers describing it as “creepy” and “disturbing”.
Jay Hunt , Channel 4’s chief creative officer, hinted the new series had been given a “modern” revamp.
“I have seen the first episode and the first thing you think is that this is Bake Off but with an extraordinarily high calibre of contributors but with a slight Channel 4 feel to it,” she said in the broadcaster’s annual report last month.
“It’s got a new tone to it; it’s got a new comic riff to it and I think that feels modern and future-facing. So it’s a show that a lot of people love but with a slight Channel 4 spin which is exactly what I hoped it would be.”
Last week the BBC faced accusations that its new cookery show - Britain’s Best Cook - starring Mary Berry, is just pale imitation of Great British Bake Off.
The show will be hosted by Claudia Winkleman and will feature amateurs baking cakes as they face different food challenges every week.
Just as with Great British Bake Off it will have two judges, although who will replace Paul Hollywood as Mary’s sidekick has yet to be confirmed.
There will be no tent but insiders at Channel 4’s revamped Bake Off say Britain’s Best Cook appears to be a copy of their series.
“The idea of Mary Berry judging amateur cooks each week, with some of the challenges even including puddings, sounds extremely familiar,” said one source.
The BBC had been looking for a replacement for Great British Bake Off, the most watched TV show of 2016, since losing the rights to Channel 4 in September.
On announcing they would not be moving to Channel 4 with the show Mel and Sue issued a statement criticising the move and saying they were not following the “dough”.
They said at the time: “We made no secret of our desire for the show to remain where it was. The BBC nurtured the show from its infancy and helped give it its distinctive warmth and charm, growing it from an audience of two million to nearly 15m at its peak.
“We’ve had the most amazing time on Bake Off, and have loved seeing it rise and rise like a pair of yeasted Latvian baps.”