BBC sells Bake Off to Discovery in Italy

BBC’s The Great British Bake Off

The show tests the skills of amateur chefs in various challenges to find the country’s best home baker. It has been a big hit for the BBC in the UK on BBC Two.

It is made by UK indie Love Productions, the UK indie set up by Richard McKerrow, a former commissioning editor at Channel 4. It has directly negotiated a format deal with US network CBS for an American Bake Off. BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the UK public broadcaster, handles sales in all other territories.

The Italian deal means the show has now been shopped to twelve countries. International broadcasters including M6 in France, Nine Network in Australia, VTM in Belgium, DR in Denmark and 1+1 in Ukraine have all taken local versions of the series.

It has also been picked up by another Discovery channel, TLC, in Poland, which has just ordered a second season. Sweden’s TV3 has also greenlit a second series of the show.

Elin Thomas, Worldwide’s VP format licensing, EMEA said: “A proven hit in many territories already, Great Bake Off lends itself beautifully to a local twist and nowhere more so than in Italy, home to arguably the most famous bread ever baked.”

Laura Carafoli, VP content & programming, Discovery Italy said: “With The Great Bake Off, Real Time will go beyond ‘chefs entertainment’ by launching a new trend on TV: bakery.”