'The Great British Baking Show: Holidays' Are Happening on Netflix

The holidays are a time when TV networks know viewers will tune in; it's not like people want to watch a Christmas Tree lighting in mid-January! However, that problem is exactly what Netflix has regarding The Great British Baking Show. The 60-hour wait from Tuesday at 8 p.m. BT to Friday at 3 a.m. ET works fine for the regular season. However, that delay puts the yearly Christmas Special on December 29 and the New Year's installment on January 4, when the service is already done with festive programming. So Netflix deals with it the old-fashioned way, waiting 11 months to air last year's episodes during the actual holiday period.

In fairness to Netflix, unless there's been host turnover, there's no way to tell one year's holiday edition from the next. The Christmas one always brings back former contestants, meaning the episodes actually benefit from waiting. (The contestants have been away from American viewers longer.) The New Year's editions drift back and forth between former contestants and U.K. celebrity casts from hit shows, half of which haven't even crossed the pond to American televisions yet. (The other half never will.) Either way, whether it's 2022, 2023, or 2024, the specials still work regardless as long as they premiere in December.

However, this does mean we Americans get to see episodes that have been pretty well hyped ahead of time. In this case, it's Christmas 2023, which brought back Sophie from Season 8 (Netflix's current first season, Collection 5), Dan from Season 9, Amelia from Season 10, Linda from Season 11, George from Season 12,  and Carole from Season 13.