The Great British Bake Off will be packed with the most adverts in history with four breaks lasting 17 minutes — as Channel 4 milks hit show for cash
THE new Great British Bake Off will be packed more tightly with ads than any similar length show in Channel 4 history.
The former BBC1 hit will have four breaks lasting nearly 17 minutes when it airs next Tuesday.
It means viewers will enjoy just 58 minutes and 18 seconds of baking and banter during the show’s 75 minutes on air.
Bosses insist their commercial airtime complies with broadcasting watchdog Ofcom’s code.
And they said GBBO is in line with similar shows on the channel.
Sponsorship has been sold to Lyle’s Golden Syrup and Dr Oetker in a seven-figure deal.
A Channel 4 source said: “Other shorter Channel 4 shows have more adverts but there’s nothing this length with this many. They have run shorter programme times and hence longer ad breaks in other shows.”
MOST READ IN BIZARRE
Yesterday C4’s Jay Hunt, the woman who poached GBBO from the BBC, refused to apologise.
She said: “We need to be careful that audiences go to the programme and they’re comfortable watching and that the ads are not a distraction. But we need to pay for shows like Bake Off.”
But star Prue Leith put her foot in it, telling viewers to watch the show on catch up instead of live – which will affect the show’s overnight ratings.
She said: “You don’t have to watch it in real time.”
The return of The Great British Bake Off next Tuesday will be its first showing since C4 bought the rights for £75million.
REVIEW - Really is what we knead in our lives
WHEN Channel 4 bought Bake Off there was concern it would be off our tellies for two years — and return unrecognisable to fans.
But it is as far from the feared car crash as it could be. It is basically a carbon copy of the BBC version.
Noel Fielding, Prue Leith, Sandi Toksvig and Paul Hollywood all walking into the same venue sounds like the start of a bad gag, but it actually makes good telly.
While Prue looks a touch nervous in the first episode, fans will come to accept her as the new, welcoming face of baking on our TVs.
Her little comments like “nothing a bit of custard won’t sort out” while judging a dodgy bake will become a trademark of the show.
Hollywood is his usual self — blunt and particularly harsh in places, but making up for it by giving out two of his famous handshakes.
Mel and Sue had become a safe pair of hands in previous years, but they looked like they were going through the motions by the end of the last series.
The unlikely double-act of Noel and Sandi, however, genuinely made me laugh out loud more than once.
And they are self-aware too, which always helps. Asked by a contestant how he’s getting on in the new job, Noel replies: “I don’t think I’ll be alright, but you’ll be fine.”
And when another tells Sandi being funny will “only get you so far”, she shoots back: “Thanks a lot.”
Well, it certainly worked in episode one.
