I'll have you know it's one times the size of Wales!

I see Mary is leaving but Paul has taken up what is I am sure a very lucrative offer

However with 3 of the 4 presenters leaving it will be interesting to see how popular it is

whatever it will be (and it may be good) it won't be Bake Off. Quite a lot of the success of that show is down to how the four 'cast members' interact - the good cop/bad cop act Mary & Paul do and how Sue & Mel are kind of a buffer between the contestants and the 'telly machine'. It's all quite complex and has developed organically over the show's run. There are a lot of parallels being made with Top Gear and while I think the situations are very different, there are some similarities and this is one of them. You can't slot three other people in and have the same mix or environment or whatever you'd like to call it just happen. Just like you can't drop Chris Evans, Eddie Jordan and that bloke from Friends into Top Gear and just expect it be the same.

It may well still be a good show, but it won't be the same show. And it' s kind of hard to believe it'll still be the most popular show on British TV or worth what C4 apparently paid for it, TBH.

I find it funny how Sue & Mel don't want to move to Ch4. Didn't they present Light Lunch (and later, Late Lunch) on Ch4?

Did you notice Hollywood didn't mention Berry in his statement?


Maybe he was expecting Berry to jump ship with him.

I wonder if the Beeb are planning to recruit the girls to produce their own baking show?

Well that's the thing. They made their names on Light lunch at lunchtime which was a relative success, then Ch4 forced it to move to a 5PM-ish slot and become Late Lunch, it's audience numbers died a death as a result and in response to that Ch4 cancelled it and put them both out of a job. So in reality there's probably little love lost between those two and Ch4.

Mel & Sue don't do any baking on GBBO, in fact they famously play up their incompetence at it. I'd be not at all surprised if Mary Berry ended up doing baking shows for the Beeb, but I think Mel & Sue will probably be presenting some other form of straight entertainment show.

Berry already has at least one cookery show with the Beeb so I suspect she wants that to continue.
Also, being brutal about it, she's not exactly in first flush of youth. She may genuinely be wanting to retire.
If you look at her hands she's very clearly got pretty serious arthritis or something in one of them (she doesn't appear to be able to bend her fingers) which I can't imagine is fun to work with.

Paul Hollywood has also had 'solo' BBC series in the past. I suspect that may not happen again for a while. Given Ch4 has had cooking shows in the past (ref: Jamie Oliver) they can probably find a vehicle for him outside GBBO.

Mary's had arthritis in her hands for some years already - possibly even since before GBBO started. Paul & Mary do 'Christmas specials' where they do the baking as a duo and it's obvious at times she has Paul do things for her that she isn't physically capable of, like opening jars, kneading dough or squeezing things like lemons.

It'll be interesting to see what the audience reaction is to this decision when Paul and Mary appear at the BBC's Good Food Show at Birmingham in November...

Mary has a bad hand due to polio.


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Genuinely never looked at her hands that closely on GBBO.

Genuinely never knew that.

I agree Mel & Sue will go off to present other shows. Both Mary and Paul can easily go their separate ways and still be successful. Not so sure about GBBO once it moves. I have a suspicion it'll be presented by that annoying guy who does the voice over on CDWM.

Didn't know about the polio thing.



Well it's not terribly obvious on GBBO itself - maybe noticeable when they are discussing the technical challenge in their own wee tend and she's dishing something up. It's far more noticeable when they do the Masterclass program and she's actually doing (or getting Paul to do more often) stuff. One of those things where once you've spotted it you can't not keep seeing it.

Who will replace Mel, Sue and Mary? The rumoured new faces of The Great British Bake Off
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/09/2 ... es-of-the/

There's not one of those that any sane person would let within a mile of the show. Gok Wan and Alan Carr? -[Lifted] me sideways with a bicycle wheel...