'The Great British Baking Show' Returns to Netflix in September
mark bourdillon
The Great British Baking Show was renewed by Channel 4 for multiple new seasons last November, extending the tent's run through Season 15, or as Netflix calls it, "Collection 12." Along with the extended renewal comes a return to normality for filming, with the program moving from the Down Hall Hotel in Essex, which has been the home of the COVID Bubble Bake Off editions since 2020. The series also returns to the old before-times style of filming on weekends, allowing contestants (and judges) to head home in between bakes to recharge. But what isn't changing? The schedule. GBBO is coming back right where viewers expect it to, in mid-September.
GBBO was already long a fall fixture in the U.K., despite PBS' penchant for holding the show until June of the following year before airing in the U.S., with episodes beginning just before the final bank holiday of summer. Netflix was well on the way to making it the same once it started airing episodes on a weekly schedule, and the pandemic solidified that. However, freed from the over-short five-week July-August Bubble filming schedule, which forced the show to begin at the end of September, Channel 4 is easing the premiere date back a little. Still, it seems likely the end-of-August premiere dates are officially a thing of the past.
As for the new season, the judges and the hosts will remain static, with Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith as judges and Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas as hosts. (Fans should note, between last season and this, Matt moved from host to contestant for the Celebrity Edition that doesn't stream here, so there's hope now that he's experienced the other side of it, he'll cut back on his antics somewhat.) But the essential part of the series is always the bakers who come to the tent full of wide-eyed hope they could land a Hollywood Handshake.
Let's run down this season's crop of bakers, how old they are, where they're from, and what they do for a living. In alphabetical order:
- Abdul, 29, from Saudi Arabia, now lives in London & Cambridge. Electronics Engineer
- Carole, 59, from Dorset. Supermarket Clerk
- Dawn, 60, from Bedfordshire. IT manager
- James, 25, from Cumbria (Scotland). Nuclear Scientist
- Janusz, 34, from Poland, now lives in East Sussex. Personal Assistant
- Kevin, 33, from Lanarkshire (Scotland). Music Teacher
- Maisam, 18, from Libya, now lives in Greater Manchester. Student+Sales Assistant
- Maxy, 29, from Sweden, now lives in London. Architectural Assistant
- Rebs, 23, from County Antrim (Ireland). Full-time Grad Student
- Sandro, 30, from Angola, now lives in London. Nanny
- Syabira, 32, from Malaysia, now lives in London. Cardiovascular Research Associate
- Will, 45, from Bristol, now lives in London. Retired Charity Director
As always, there are a few things to note. Maisam is our youngest but not the only student this season, while Carole and Dawn vie for the oldest contestant spots. We've got a nice mix of backgrounds that will lead to exciting bakes and flavors, two Scottish accents, and an Irish brogue. Also, we have multiple architects and engineers, so we've got some extraordinary bakes.
The Great British Baking Show Season 13, aka Collection 10, debuts on Friday, Sept. 16, at 3 a.m. ET, 60 hours after it airs on Channel 4 on Tuesday, Sept. 13, at 8 p.m. BT. The series will follow a weekly release schedule with one episode every Friday through mid-November.
