Bake Off maker sees dough rise
THEY always insisted it wasn’t about the money.
But the makers of The Great British Bake Off are celebrating having a lot more dough since they moved the hit series from the BBC to Channel 4.
Takings for Love Productions went up from £16million to £20.3million after Channel 4 snapped up the show.
Details of how the Bake Off transfer benefited the company are revealed for the first time.
Love had a pre-tax profit of £5.1million, more than double the previous year’s £2.2million when the show aired on the BBC.
The company directors who set up Love – Richard McKerrow and Anna Beattie – each got a personal dividend of £408,000 – which rose 67% from their dividend of £244,000 the year before. The company had a corporation tax bill of £819,000 and has retained profit of £6.5million in the business. In September 2016 when the show was confirmed to be moving channels the company sent an email to staff that read: “With deep regret, after more than a year of exhaustive negotiations we have been unable to reach an agreement with the BBC for the renewal of The Great British Bake Off. “We are really saddened by this outcome because we always wanted to stay on the BBC. This has never been about who might write the biggest cheque, but
The channel W has stopped screening same-day repeats of East Enders. W is ending its deal with the BBC. Those affected will have to record them or use iPlayer.
about where we can find the best home for Bake Off.”
The accounts cover the 12 months to June 2017, so after the first Channel 4 series began filming in April last year but before it aired.
This means Love may have more money in next year’s accounts as it will include money for another series and possible extra cash it gets when the show is aired.
The show hit the headlines last week when it emerged judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith and presenters Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding were paid for working on the celebrity version of the series which raised money for Stand Up To Cancer.
Still, it looks as if Love Productions have plenty of cash to hand out...