Originally Posted by Janet43:
“If Channel 4 stands any chance at all of keeping viewers, it needs to lose the adverts (it does so for live Formula 1) and stick with sponsorship and product placement. It also needs to find a pair of presenters who will be accepted in place of Mel and Sue, and I don't think the names bandied about so far fit the bill as far as I'm concerned - Davina McCall, Jo Brand, Jimmy Carr, Jennifer Saunders or Nadyia Hussein.
If Mary and Paul do quit, they'll have a job finding suitable replacements - i.e. bakers as opposed to cooks or chefs - otherwise it would become the Great British Cook Off. Ainslie Harriott, Jamie Oliver, Lorraine Pascale have been suggested, but they are not bakers. Nadyia has also been suggested, but that would be the same as Alesha Dixon being made a judge on Strictly, which failed abysmally - the student suddenly becoming the teacher. Personally, I can't think of any other cook on TV who specialises in baking.
New shoes are never as comfortable as old ones, and I doubt that one series with different people fronting it will be sufficient for viewers to watch in their droves. There will obviously be comparisons with the original team.
As for the BBC having budgets for different types of shows and insufficient available from the factual budget to pay what Love Production demanded, a lot of publicly owned organisation are the same. For instanced local councils can't use money from the waste collection budget to fund social care.”
Channel 4 used to have a show by the excellent Eric Lanlard, they broadcast a couple of series. I bought his book, after seeing his show, and he makes amazing cakes and desserts, and his recipe for chocolate fondant is the best I've ever tried - near foolproof (unless you can't count 8 minutes in the oven - done that once or twice!!).
Very, VERY interestingly(!), he and Paul Hollywood once pitched a baking show idea together, back in the early 2000's, and they were turned down by most of the networks as they 'weren't interested in baking show concepts'!!

I genuinely wouldn't be surprised to see these two as the show judges, if they secure Paul to the GBBO.
It would present a very different vibe from the feminine slant of Mary and two female hosts, but he worked for the Roux brothers, and is accepted as one of the best pastry chefs in the country,
and has previous ties to C4. I suspect there would be the risk that you lose the 'home baker' element that is so important to GBBO, by not having a non-pro baker - two professional bakers judging has a totally different skew to the proceedings, but it's difficult to come up with another 'known' face that is as strongly linked to home baking as Mary. Nigella is as close as I can get - she is strongly slanted towards puds in many of her books, but I think her brand is a bit tarnished these days!