Channel 4 came in for criticism from MPs, celebrities and the former culture secretary for paying millions of pounds for the Great British Bake Off but failing to secure one of the show’s key ingredients, presenters Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins.
John Whittingdale, the culture secretary during charter renewal negotiations last year, , said that buying the rights to the BBC1 baking competition “doesn’t obviously sit within its remit”. He said he was surprised that the BBC should be outbid for Bake Off by a rival public service broadcaster, Channel 4, who agreed a £75m three-year deal for the show.
Channel 4’s argument against privatisation last September was largely based on its public service remit of championing shows that focused on innovation, diversity and new talent.
“As a public service broadcaster with a distinct remit, I am surprised that C4 should think it should outbid BBC,” said Whittingdale, although he conceded that the commercially funded nature of Channel 4 meant it had to provide popular programming to attract advertising.
His comments followed the defiant statement by Giedroyc and Perkins on Tuesday who said, out of loyalty to the BBC, they would not be following the show when it moved to its new home on Channel 4 in 2017.
It is still unknown whether Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry will agree to stay on as judges, but Berry has a new programme, Foolproof Recipes, starting soon on BBC2, and Hollywood was recently given his own car show on the BBC. Channel 4 released a brief statement saying they “would love it if Mary and Paul want to come to C4”.
The channel has been criticised in some quarters for spending so much on one show nurtured by a rival broadcaster – the £25m annual fee is equivalent to Channel 4’s profits in 2015.
Dr Who actor and writer Mark Gatiss called on Channel 4 to reverse their Bake Off bid and return the show to the BBC. “Not too late for Channel 4 to just not do this and thus make a huge amount of people very happy,” he said.
Broadcaster Jeremy Vine took a similar stance. He said: “Sorry Channel 4 but Bake Off without Mel and Sue, and without the BBC platform, is just a piece of burnt toast. Game over.” Philip Schofield said this was the end of Bake Off and said that Channel 4 had killed it.
Former Channel 4 chief executive Michael Grade, who was also previously the chairman of the BBC, said the channel had undermined its argument against being privatised by poaching its rival’s hit. By outbidding the BBC for Bake Off, he said, Channel 4 had “shot itself very seriously in the foot”.
Speaking on Chris Evans’s Radio 2 show, Pointless presenter Richard Osman speculated that, should Berry and Hollywood follow Giedroyc and Perkins out the door, the BBC could easily set up their own rival show.
“If Paul and Mary don’t go, I’d be shocked beyond words if they didn’t do a new big show on BBC One, and I imagine Mel and Sue would join them,” said Osman.
Chi Onwurah, the shadow culture minister, linked the BBC’s loss of Bake Off directly to the deal made last year in which the broadcaster agreed to shoulder the cost of providing free TV licences for the over-75s.
She said it was clear that the BBC lost Bake Off after six years because “of funding” and warned that the British public could lose more of their favourite shows if the deal - which will cost the BBC £1.3bn over five years - goes ahead in 2018.
“It could pay seven times over for our 30 local BBC radio stations, or fund Radio 4 eight times,” said Onwurah. “It could pay for 30 British Bake Offs. And ministers would do well to consider that before depriving the British public of their favourite shows.”
