Andy DehnartThe new Channel 4 version of The Great British Bake Off, aka The Great British Baking Show in the U.S., will be recognizable but have “a new tone” that may not include the same kind of pun-filled innuendo the old show was known for.
Radio Times reports that the new season will be “free of the old-school innuendo and soggy bottom jokes that were familiar to fans of its BBC1 incarnation,” and cites an unnamed source who says that, in episode one, “There are no soggy bottom jokes.”
In its annual report, Channel 4 says the show will debut sometime “in the autumn.” At a press event, network executive Jay Hunt told journalists that, based on the first episode, she’s confident it delivers on what we expect from GBBO:
“I have seen the first episode and the first thing you think is that this is Bake Off but with an extraordinarily high calibre of contributors but with a slight Channel 4 feel to it.
It’s got a new tone to it; it’s got a new comic riff to it and I think that feels modern and future-facing. So it’s a show that a lot of people love but with a slight Channel 4 spin which is exactly what I hoped it would be.”
She also said, “Critically, Bake Off is mostly about the bakers, and the striking thing this year is the sheer calibre of the bakers and what they are pulling off.”
Considering that the puns were mostly Mel and Sue’s thing, it’s best that the new hosts don’t try to do the exact same thing. That said, it’s hard to imagine GBBO without those charming and cheeky jokes.