The Great British Bake Off: All you need to know about the new series

Mary Gallagher
The eighth series of ‘The Great British Bake Off’ is almost upon us, which means another twelve amateur bakers are about to put themselves at the mercy of that tent – and judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith.
The eighth series of ‘The Great British Bake Off’ is almost upon us, which means another twelve amateur bakers are about to put themselves at the mercy of that tent – and judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith.
SPOILER ALERT: This articks contains details about the first episode of GBBO

The Great British Bake Off is finally back after months of toing and froing about how the new series will look at its new home, Channel 4.

The broadcaster has stuck with the old adage that if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it! Thankfully, we can look forward to a lot of laughs, tears, and teacake in the big white tent, as well as 12 contestants and one very hard-to-please judge, Paul Hollywood.

With that in mind, lets get down to the nitty gritty Bake Off details that we all need to know ahead of the new series.

When is the first episode on TV?

The Great British Bake Off is on Channel 4 at 20:00 BST on Tuesday 29 August (yep, that’s still a week away).

The Great British Bake Off review round-up: Critics praise Channel 4 show and Noel Fielding
The Great British Bake Off review round-up: Critics praise Channel 4 show and Noel Fielding
Who are the new fab four?

Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig are presenting inside the tent with Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith judging the amateur bakers.

And we love that Sandi and Noel land in a hot air balloon in the opening shots of the show.

What are the contestants’ names?

Liam, Stacey, Yan, Steven, Tom, Flo, Kate, Julia, James, Chris, Sophie and Peter.

Has the format changed?

Paul Hollywood says the format is the same because it was never broken in the first place. He told the Radio Times: ‘Bake Off’s not broken. If we were in a slump, down to something like eight million viewers, then we’d say we need to change something. But we don’t.’Sandi is also determined to keep the traditions of the programme in tact: ‘You want to show that everybody has respect for the show. You don’t want to break it, because it’s something precious and it’s precious to so many people. I have to say what we’ve made I’m very proud of it.’

Peter on the Great British Bake Off
Peter on the Great British Bake Off
So what HAS changed?

Not much, Sandi and Noel have even nicked Mel & Sue’s familiar ‘Ready, Steady, Bake! catchphrase. But there will, of course, be adverts, but they are ‘well placed’ throughout the hour to coincide with the rounds and winner announcement.

TV executive, Jay Hunt, also says the show will be ‘more surreal and more comedic’ at Channel 4.

What are the standards like this year?

Seriously high. One contestant makes a watermelon cake. But it doesn’t take itself too seriously, as one contestant points out, ‘No-one’s going to die’.

How many viewers are Channel 4 expecting to draw?

They’re playing it safe and telling us they expect between five million and 17 million people to tune in each week.

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