One more thing to be grateful for; The Great British Bake Off is going to be back on our screens later this year for season 11. This year’s filming came with a whole host of challenges due to COVID-19 and social distancing rules, however, show producers were determined to make it work, and we couldn’t be more excited!
The Great British Bake Off confirmed on Instagram last week that filming for their latest series has wrapped and that more news will be coming soon. Kieran Smith, Creative Director for Love Productions, the production company behind Bake Off, said in an interview with Broadcast, “So many people rely on Bake Off for work that we knew we had to work out a plan”.
Smith explained that the entire cast and crew had to isolate separately for nine days and take three tests for coronavirus, before they all formed a bubble together, isolating in a hotel rented by production in the South-East. The cast, crew, hotel staff, around 20 children, chaperones and dog walkers, all stayed in lockdown together for over six weeks of filming, in order to avoid having to social distance.
“It was a massive operation, we even [built] 12 practice kitchens for the bakers to use on their days off. It felt like the safest place in Britain,” described Smith.
Throughout the entire “gruelling” process, they only had one coronavirus scare, which turned out to be just that, nothing more than a scare.
It has also been revealed that the famous baking show will be getting a new co-host for the upcoming season, following the departure of Sandy Toksvig. Little Britain comedian, Matt Lucas is joining the show as Noel Fielding’s hosting partner.
After having quite an intense Bake Off introduction, Smith commented, “He was practically living with the bakers. It felt like he had always been there.”
