The BBC has tripped up, sending the grandest cake on TV to the floor… or, to be exact, Four.
Viewers are naturally concerned. Will this mean a new racier version like ‘Naked Bake Off’ or ‘The Big Fat Gypsy Bake Off’?
Will the show be presented by Dean Gaffney and Kerry Katona?
Will there be a week where every cake has to resemble something from the new Radox shower gel range?
Will it be GBBO sponsored by BP?
No of course not because Channel 4 is perfectly capable of understanding that it now has ‘custardy’ of the most beloved programme on British television.
One thing is for sure, there will be advert breaks but even then, that isn’t such a terrible development.
It’ll give us time to make a cuppa without missing a single moment of flan drama.
Read more: Mary Berry speaks out as BBC lose Bake Off to Channel 4
More worrying is the fact that the BBC has lost one of its crowing jewels.
It recalls the dark days when Sky stole away the rights to cover pretty much every sporting event apart from lawn bowls.
Love Productions said negotiations with the BBC had been taking place for a year, with a last-ditch meeting on Monday.
The three year contract with Channel 4 was signed that same evening.
Do you think any of the BBC executives had the wit to watch the show’s owners leave and say… “The Love is…scone?” Doubtful.
Mel and Sue would have. I hope they stay in the mixing bowl; it wouldn’t be the same without them.
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The problem now facing the BBC is to find a way of filling the hungry gap left behind.
I hope it’s not Masterchef on steroids, where two even less appealing men stuff even more fussy food onto even longer lizard tongues cooked by even more watery lettuce leaves.
Meanwhile, after getting its fingers burned by not making one of its top shows in-house… the Beeb is currently tendering out many of its in-house programmes to… private production companies!
Clever. It’s all in the name of competition and cost-cutting.
I suspect other big BBC favourites will fly the nest as a result.