'The Great British Baking Show: Holidays': Happy Bakes Are Here Again

Over on the regular edition of The Great British Baking Show, a crisis is brewing, as the series has now turned out two extremely mediocre winners in a row, and all because judge Paul Hollywood can't just let the series play out without meddling. (Meanwhile, Prue Leith hints loudly that she's tired of all this and will no longer do the charity editions.) But over on The Great British Baking Show: Holidays, Netflix is turning back the clock 11 months to Alison Hammond's first-ever holiday specials in the tent as host to remind us all what an absolute delight she and Noel Fielding are together.

Last season, we recapped the Holiday edition precisely one week after the regular season finale, before the shock of the show's first genuine trainwreck of a finale had worn off, an experience made all the stranger by returning to Matt Lucas as host instead of Alison, giving the whole thing a sense of being out of time and place. (It helped — or maybe didn't help — that the first of the two installments, the Christmas episode, was made up of retired BBC talent who Americans wouldn't recognize.)

This year, I took a week off between episodes, partly because the Holiday edition did not arrive until Monday, December 9. It was the right choice, allowing me to come to both episodes a little fresher and enjoy them. Even better, both installments bring back favorites from previous years, all of whom experience Alison as host for the first time.

The opening episode, The Great Christmas Bake Off 2023, brings back the ghosts of bakers past with a whopping six former contestants returning to the tent: Sophie, who won 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. Unlike last year's pensioners, who couldn't be paid enough to care, this is a real competition; five out of six contestants never made the finals. (However, Dan is famously the only contestant ever to land three Hollywood Handshakes.)

These contestants are from seasons with Sandi or Matt, and none of them are prepared for Alison's jolly spirit or her threat to sit on Paul's knee after Noel refers to him as "Our Sexy Santa." (The shocked silence before the whooping was the chef's kiss.) I recommend watching this episode for the contestants' interactions with Alison; it reminds us how important (and complex) the hosting job is and how few can successfully manage it.

The Signature is a dozen mince pies, meaning Americans learn what goes into a mincemeat pie. (Hint: it's not meat.) Linda and George's shortbreads are too short, Amelia and Carole's are suitable for amateurs, and Sophie and Dan's are shop-window-worthy, though Dan's flavor is apparently awful. The Technical is a tear-and-share cinnamon loaf in the shape of a star. (The announcement it's bread deflates several.) Carole and George struggle, Amelia and Linda are middling, and Paul and Sophie take Second and First, respectively. As for the Showstopper, which is to make a cake that redeems their worst week in the tent, sadly, no one is redeemed, and Sophie now can boast she's won in the tent twice.

The second episode, The Great New Year's Bake Off 2023/24, has more recent contestants: Season 12 alums Jürgen and Maggie, Mark from Season 11, and Maxy from Season 13. Jürgen is an excellent sport, showing up as part of the opening playing the trombone*. (All of the band geeks just said, "OH! He's a trombonist!" like that explains everything.) He keeps the trombone in the tent and punctuates Noel's jokes with a happy flourish. (It's less insulting than when he pulls out the "sad trombone" noise, though arguably the latter is funnier.) Noel and Jürgen make a delightful team, but the highlight of Alison's life is when Jürgen gives her his leftover modeling chocolate, which she eats straight off the parchment paper. 

(*Notably, Paul does not attempt to German-splain anything to the former contestant; instead, he listens respectfully when the baker tells him about his country's traditions, probably for fear of the trombone.)

The Signature is a challenge that viewers have seen before: a dozen holiday-themed Religieuse, two flavors, six of each. (You may remember this was one of the last challenges of Nadiya's year. Only Paul was there for that, so Noel had to have Prue explain what they were.) Maggie and Mark managed to get their turned out, but Maxy's are unfinished, and Jürgen had a complete oven calamity and only produced a couple. The Technical is a Galette des Rois (King Cake), which Americans will recognize thanks to New Orleans making Mardi Gras a thing in this country. The bakers are less familiar with them, but the ending, where they all move their cakes to the plate simultaneously, is worth the price of admission.

Jürgen fails the Technical, which would be a shocker, except at this point, it almost feels like he's throwing the competition to keep Paul from being able to name him the winner and be absolved of his past behavior. Maxy takes first over Mark, which is probably a bit more surprising, while Maggie places third. The Showstopper is a New Year's themed "smash cake," but not the kind for an infant's birthday. Instead, they want a domed cake, which Paul will smash with a mallet to discover little bakes inside. Maxy's phoenix dome is so gorgeous it's a shame to hit it, but my favorite is Jürgen's "Sunrise over Mt. Fuji," an octagonal triumph. But since he failed the first two challenges, Maxy takes the win.

The Great British Baking Show will return to Netflix in 2025 with Season 16. The current Christmas and New Year Special casting lineups can be found here.