BBC blinks first in the great Bake Off face-off
It moves new cookery show to avoid C4 clash
TV and Radio Reporter
THE BBC has backed away from a direct ratings battle with Channel 4 by rescheduling its flagship cooking show to avoid a clash with its rival’s new version of The Great British Bake Off.
It came as the corporation accused Channel 4 of ‘cynicism’ for deciding to pit its Bake Off head to head against the Big Family Cooking Showdown on Tuesdays at 8pm.
The BBC’s decision to move its show to Thursday night in the ‘ best interest of viewers’ means that fans of cooking shows will not need to choose between the programmes, but it has sparked a fresh argument over competitive scheduling.
The BBC complained that there is no ‘public value’ in both public service broadcasters having their shows in the same slot and suggested that viewers ‘ may see this as a cynical move’.
The corporation also questioned why Bake Off was being moved away from its ‘traditional’ Wednesday night slot, a decision that it said would be ‘a surprise to many viewers’. The show was previously a huge hit for the BBC before Channel 4 acquired it.
Insiders claimed the reason was to avoid a potential clash with Coronation Street later in the autumn, when it is thought that ITV will introduce a double bill of its flagship soap opera on Wednesday nights.
But Channel 4 bosses insisted they had wanted to show Bake Off on a Tuesday Good start: Nadiya Hussain and Zoe Ball on the BBC show New line-up: Noel Fielding, Sandi Toksvig, Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith night for ‘ months’ and that four series of the hit show had been broadcast on Tuesdays. The explanation was described as ‘ risible’ by a BBC source last night.
But the scheduling clashes
‘Best interest of viewers’
did not end there, as ITV announced that it will pit its second prime-time documentary about Princess Diana to clash with Bake Off’s launch on August 29.
Diana: The Day Britain Cried, which will be narrated by Oscar- winning actress Kate Winslet, will document the princess’s funeral. It will include interviews with her former royal protection officer and the funeral’s chief organiser and chief pallbearer.
The theme of the Channel 4 Bake Off’s opening episode will be cakes, with the amateur bakers taking part challenged to make a ‘fruity signature’, a tea party favourite and an ‘illusion cake’.
The BBC’s new Big Family Cooking Showdown, which is judged by Rosemary Shrager and Giorgio Locatelli, was launched on Tuesday night to positive reviews from fans.
Yet, while comparisons have been made between the format of the competition and Bake Off, the ratings were far from similar, with just 1.7million tuning in.
Explaining the decision to move the show, a BBC spokesman said: ‘Channel 4’s decision to move Bake Off from its long-term traditional Wednesday slot will be a surprise to many viewers who may see this as a cynical move.
‘We never intended for our new cookery show to clash with theirs. There is room for both and we don’t, in this instance, see any public value in two public service broadcasters going head to head in this way.
‘We will therefore move our show to Thursday in the best interest of viewers to avoid such a clash.’
A Channel 4 spokesman said: ‘ We made the decision about where to schedule The Great British Bake Off a few months after acquiring it and we haven’t moved it since then.
‘It is in the original Tuesday evening slot where the majority of past series have played.’