SHOW RETURNS TO CHANNEL 4

Bake Off hosts share recipe of series' success

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Prue Leith and host Alison Hammond are two of the most important ingredients in The Great British Bake Off, which returns to Channel 4 next week.

Prue, 85, replaced Mary Berry in 2017 when the show moved over from the BBC, while Alison, 50, has only been on board since March 2023, when she began filming the 14th series.

Since then, the pair have become close on and off screen and here they chat about bakes, age just being a number and what to expect in the new series...

What's going to get everyone excited?

ALISON You've got six men and six women from all over Britain. They're all really exciting bakers. It's not just about the baking for them. They've got families and really good jobs as well.

PRUE This year we had quite a lot of designers and engineers, and it showed in their baking. They were so much better at construction.

ALISON They just take it so seriously. It's like a science to them, because that's how they are within their work.

People are going to be blown away. There's a few failures as well, as to be expected. It's going to be so much fun.

Paul's on form, Prue's on form, Noel is just so funny. It's classic Bake Off.

PRUE We also had a lot of artistic people, like hairdressers and stylists.

ALISON We've got a bridal designer, too. That comes out in their bakes. We say it every year but it's a wonderful series.

Last year's series was extraordinary. Did you think, 'How can we possibly follow that?'