Channel 4 will be ‘happy’ if 3 million watch new Great British Bake Off after ‘poaching’ it from BBC
Channel 4 boss Jay Hunt has admitted she will be happy if the Great British Bake Off gets three million viewers next week when it launches.
When the baking show was on BBC1 it peaked at a whopping 14.8 million viewers for last year’s final, won by Candice Brown.
Earlier this week the show’s judge Paul Hollywood said eight million would be the point that bosses would need to “ change something”.
But Jay, who spearheaded the move to poach Bake Off from the Beeb, said yesterday: “If it gets five, six or seven million viewers then I will be absolutely delighted. We’ve been very clear that this show can break even at Channel 4 at about three million.”
Jay has also defended the decision to cast quirky Mighty Boosh comic Noel Fielding as the presenter of the show and commends his flourishing partnership with co-host Sandi Toksvig.
She said: “Noel has the ability to communicate with children as well, there’s something quite childlike in the way in he comes across. I thought he would be an interesting flavour in the mix.
“Something rather magical has happened with Sandi and Noel and that’s has much luck as it is judgement, you can’t in any way force those situations, but there is a rather charming dynamic, which is emerging and I think they’re going to be a pairing to watch.”
Jay also argued that the channel didn’t poach it from the BBC.
She said: “This language of nabbing and poaching is critical, it was widely reported that Love and BBC had reached an impasse — they couldn’t make Bake Off anymore. The scenario was very stark. Bake Off no longer had a home. At that point all and sundry were interested in making the biggest show in television. So it was a legitimate conversation to be having.
“It’s a big show that Love Productions were no longer prepared to make for the BBC after a previously acrimonious relationship and I’m really excited about it launching.
“We were buying a strong show, its format travels well, at that point it was clear we were going to need to reinvent it.”
The outgoing chief creative officer, who has worked at Channel 4 for seven years, said the only talent she regretted not being able to lure were Ant and Dec — who have a golden handcuffs deal with ITV.
She said: “The talent anyone would’ve wanted, working at a big broadcaster, would be Ant and Dec, without a shadow of a doubt. I think they are the best in class and the fact that they consistently win all of those awards is entirely correct to me.”