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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Lifestyle
Ellie Harrison

Matt Lucas says David Walliams behind decision to quit Bake Off: ‘We just thought it was time’

Channel 4, Getty

Matt Lucas has revealed that he quitThe Great British Bake Off so that he could make a new sketch show with David Walliams.

In December, the comedian announced he was stepping down from presenting the Channel 4 baking competition after three years fronting it alongside Noel Fielding.

Speaking on The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2 this morning (26 January), Lucas said: “Me and David Walliams have started writing together again. We just thought it was time, so we quit our jobs and decided to do that.

“I mean I still do Fantasy Football League, obviously. We just started last week.”

He said that they have already decided what the concept of the new series is, explaining: “It will be a show with us playing lots of characters. But we have to write the treatment for it and we have to go and pitch it and see if anyone wants to make it.

“But if someone wants to make it, we’ll be thrilled to do it.”

Lucas and Walliams are famous for their controversial Noughties sketch show,Little Britain, which in recent years has faced accusations of racism due to the pair appearing in blackface in the series.

Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas on 'GBBO' (© Mark Bourdillon)

Walliams was recently replaced as a host on Britain’s Got Talent after his derogatory comments about contestants – including sexually explicit remarks about one woman and another instance in which he described an elderly man as a “c***” – were leaked.

He was replaced by Bruno Tonioli on the ITV talent show. Lucas’s Bake Off replacement is yet to be announced.

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