And?

If the BBC want to protect their investment in third-party productions they should ensure it's written into the contract.


Well, no. Something is worth what a buyer is willing to pay. To Channel 4, Bake Off is worth what they paid.

I should also point out that Channel 4 is publicly-owned.


Well, no, because the format of the Morecambe and Wise Show was Morecambe and Wise.

Now, if Channel 4 had bought "The Mary, Paul, Mel and Sue Baking Show" you might have something close to resembling a point.

But they didn't. So it's an utterly nonsensical comparison.


What wouldn't apply? The judges not moving with the show?

Well, I guess that proves my point about people's judgment here being clouded by their existing opinions on the BBC and Channel 4.


And that's ITV's prerogative.

Channel 4 clearly thought differently.

Actually C4 ended up buying a very expensive tent

Totally agree, and to be fair it had until somebody bumped it up again and set the same boring old argument off again.

As has been written, SCD has changed incrementally with and one judge changing at a time, when Alesha Dixon joined she was already associated with the programme and I think Darcey Bussell had already appeared as a guest. The main presenter change was even easier because Bruce Forsyth had missed programmes and they effectively have a spare presenter with It Takes Two. Another factor was that the viewers were sympathetic about the changes because they were unavoidable.

I can't think of anything that moved from CH4 to the BBC but all the ones that I can think of moving from ITV to the BBC, had been dropped by ITV (some for several years) so were saved by being revived. I think they were all more successful on the BBC.

SCD has changed but the format of a show remains the same whoever presents or judges it.

Which was the point being made earlier, ads, product placement, new presenters and judges will be a change but the format of the show (12 bakers/tent etc) will remain. If it was just a case of getting new faces into a show to change the format, the BBC could make the same show but with different presenters/judges, or produce their own show like The Voice, with blind auditions, spinning chairs, battle rounds etc but with different presenters and judges, they simply wouldn't be allowed to do it.

No, they've bought a successful baking format.

They couldn't have banked on people being so petty and childish that they aren't even going to give it a chance when it first airs on C4.


So we shouldn't raise old threads to post new and relevant information?

It's not my fault that other people decided to argue against what someone involved in the programme has said about it.

We won't know if it is a success until C4 have aired their version of it which looks increasingly like early 2019.How strange that some people want to stop discussion of a programme for two years.

The thread has been reopened and the same arguments put forward and as I pointed out nothing can be achieved by speculating. We won't know the length of the programme how many ad breaks although it is likely to be the normal 3 howver CH 4 may not include the self promotion trailers that pad out the hour slot. We do not know who the presenters will be or the chemistry between them or indeed how the contestants will have similar personalities which have been an important part of the show. I just believe it is better to wait and see what develops because the earliest it is likely to feature is 2018.

I was quite rightly asked to give it a rest with my debate with Ash on another thread concerning using the iplayer. The problem is that it is easy to be drawn into debates if you feel strongly about the topic but in hindsight I was wrong and I do believe some here are making a similar mistake.

What I originally posted was quotes from an interview with Paul Hollywood. Not speculation, but straight from a horse's mouth, as it were. I don't think it's unreasonable to have brought the thread back up in those circumstances.


It's not until you get drawn into a debate with someone that you realise that, though.

I don't see why people should be insulted for choosing to not watch a new programme, which is what it will be. There are hundreds of programmes that I choose to not watch.

I will probably record it and have a look, fast forwarding through all the adverts. But if the some of the names that have been bandied about become presenters then won't even do that.

I read the same article and have now listened back to his interview and he hasn't stated anything new that hasn't been already said either by Love Productions or Channel 4. Below is what he said and the format it seems won't change, yes there will be adverts but how long and how many is not yet decided, product placement and sponsorship or the show may be 65 or 70 minutes but if the contestants are good, show personality and there is good chemistry between the new presenters I don't think GBBO fans have much to worry about and if they do not like ads then record and fast forward. Even fast forward is easier on some boxes which you can skip in gaps of 1 minute so four clicks and you are back to the show in a second or two. The thread is turning from a debate about the major point of the GBBO moving to a lot of speculation about what is going to happen and no matter how many people post a view or debate with each other what and what shouldn't happen I just feel it is better to wait and see what actually happens.


I tend to answer each reply made to me because it is polite to do so but I am going to make this my last post because it will just go round and round adding nothing new.

No matter how much you claim this, it's not true. It's the same programme with different presenters and one different judge.

And it is petty and childish to not even give it a chance.

Sorry but that's nonsense the chemistry and fun between the presenters and judges are key to the success of the show. The format of the show is nothing special or original.

Strictly's format has changed over the years. In the early years there were two distinct dances each week, one ballroom and one latin. Half of the couples danced the one dance whilst the other half danced the other. It was easy to compare couples.

Additionally, the AT was always held back until the latter stages (quarter-finals I think) with all qualifying couples attempting it.

The format of the scoring/elimination has also changed, with the introduction of the dance-off, its scrapping in later series, and its subsequent reintroduction.

Small changes (some might even argue that they are not changes to the format), but changes they are.

This thread sums up the Broadcasting forum perfectly. Grown men (mostly) losing their collective minds about a cooking programme moving from one FTA channel to another.

GBBO on the Beeb was so sweet/innocent/charming/British/BBC. All that will be lost by the loss of two presenters and one judge, product placement and frequent/jarring ads. Bake Off on 4 will not be the Bake Off everyone loves on the Beeb.

Indeed. When content moves from the commercial sector to the BBC, it is usually much more successful. I'm thinking Men Behaving Badly.

So we've had a whole day of people more or less agreeing that this thread has run its course unless something new comes up and you post the same cut and paste stuff you've already cut and pasted to the thread dozens of times...

For once let someone else have the last word?

When M&W moved to Thames in '78 their writer Eddie Braben did not go with them.
He was still under contract to the BBC.
The earlier shows were nowhere near as good written by Cryer and Junkin, but when Braben was able to join them at Thames the format had been cut back to 30 minutes with advert breaks instead of the previous 50 minutes at the BBC.

This meant the Morecambe and Wise show became much less of an "event" and Thames only broadcast on weeknights - Mon-Thurs so their shows went from Saturday / Sunday night "events" to 30 minutes after Coronation Street on a Wednesday

this year is the first time i have really watched it, i saw a little bit of it last year, but watched it right through this year and to be honest, I think it will lose something when it changes channel, not because it is changing channel, but because it lost the presenters.

It is like QI with out Stephen Fry, just will not be the same.

So non of what I say is not true?

I will continue to make the case against Bake Off on 4. It was our friend Mark who reinvigorated the thread. Given that he appears to be quite casual about the move (I have my suspicions as to why) I will continue to present the opposing case strongly...as you'd expect Satire.

It's obvious that TGBBO is going to change. It has lost 3/4s of it's presenting team and will need to be shortened by around 15 minutes.

Losing Mary, Mel and Sue is going to have more effect than losing 15 mins from the programme, programmes are as much about the personalities involved as they are the content.

Traffic Cops has moved to Channel 5 after the BBC cancelled it, and it is pretty much the same show, albeit shorter. That is helped by retaining Jamie Theakston as commentator.

I think you are giving Paul more credit for the show than he actually has. If he had any significant input in the show surely he would have been aware of the move to Channel 4 and would have announced right away that he would be staying.

It is far more likely that he has sought assurances from the production company about the future of the show and that is what his comments are based on.

Oh keep doing it, whenever I'm in need of a good laugh I seek out your posts in this thread.

I'm sure Stewart Lee does too

Of course you don't need me to tell you that simply repeating the same thing over and over and over again ad nauseum is not presenting anything strongly, let alone a case.

It is simply battering people into submission and in your strange world that equals success.

Unfortunately most people now realise what your purpose on this forum is (I have no suspicions at all) so less and less bother engaging with you. That is a great loss.

Maybe it means you'll actually have time to watch the BBC as I can't work out when you actually do as you seem to be on here from the moment you get in from school.