TV favourite Mary Berry will host new BBC show to rival Channel 4’s Great British Bake Off
THE BBC is planning to line up former Great British Bake Off judge Mary Berry against the revamp of her old show.
The former judge, 81, will front Mary Berry’s Secrets from Britain’s Great Houses on BBC1 this autumn - which will see her tour the UK’s best stately homes.
And sources say Beeb bosses will air the programme at the same time as the new Bake Off, which is now on Channel 4, and features her old colleague Paul Hollywood and her replacement Prue Leith as judges.
It is the second show the corporation is planning to pitch against its former programme - after The Sun revealed 2015 winner Nadiya Hussain’s The Big Family Cooking Showdown would also be screened in the autumn.
A source said: “The BBC aren’t just going to let the new Bake Off air uncontested.
“First they decided to put Nadiya and the Big Family Cooking Showdown on air at a similar time, now they’re doing the same with Mary.
“Her new show is nothing to do with cooking - but it’s sure to draw a few viewers looking for their Mary Berry fix away from Bake Off.”
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The show will go up against the new Bake Off which controversially switched from BBC after six series to Channel 4 in a £75 million move.
Last week it was announced that Mighty Boosh comic Noel Fielding and QI host Sandi Toksvig would replace Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins at the helm of what was once Britain’s most popular TV show.
Nadiya - who won GBBO in 2015 - will co-host The Big Family Cooking Showdown with Zoe Ball, Rosemary Shrager and Giorgio Locatelli.
The decision to launch a show that rivals the revamped Bake Off is at odds with the views of new BBC chairman David Clementi.
Asked if he thought it would be wrong to introduce a “copycat” version, he said: “Yes, if it was precisely similar, but I don’t think that’s intended.”