By Carmen Croghan for Reality on April 20th, 2018

'The Great British Baking Show' Returns to PBS This Summer

Sue Perkins, Mary Berry, Paul Hollywood and Mel Giedroyc return to the tent for season 5 of 'The Great British Baking Show' Credit: Courtesy of Love Productions

Sue Perkins, Mary Berry, Paul Hollywood & Mel Giedroyc

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Fans of proving drawers, rough puff pastry and culinary puns, rejoice!  PBS has announced that it will begin airing another season of The Great British Baking Show on June 22.

This will be the fifth season of the baking competition aired by the network in the U.S..  It’s important to note, however, that this upcoming series predates all the others we’ve seen thus far. Though PBS hasn’t stated this specifically, both Forbes.com and RealityBlurred.com have reported that the upcoming episodes are from the third season of The Great British Bake Off broadcast in the UK in 2012. (In the US, we’ve seen seasons 4-7.)

But never fear, this season will still follow that same familiar formula and feature that same magical tent we’ve come to know and love. We’ll meet a dozen hopeful bakers at the beginning of the season, with one contestant to be sent packing each week. The episodes are still comprised of three challenges - the signature bake, the technical bake and the show stopper.

The original cast remains as well. Judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood still decide the fate of our intrepid bakers while Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc offer comic relief and a shoulder to freak out on.

You may recall that much has changed with the “Bake Off” on the other side of the pond in recent months. It moved to a different network (Channel 4) and there was a big personnel shake-up.

Mr. Hollywood was joined by food author and new judging partner Prue Leith while the hosting duties have fallen to the unlikely comedic duo of Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding. The relocated program debuted in the UK in August 2017 and is set to return again in the late summer.

At this time, we don’t know if PBS and Channel 4 will join forces to bring the newest episodes to US audiences. Personally, I hope they do, but for now we still have British bakers whipping up sponge, bread and tarts in a tent. And that’s pretty nice too.

Season 5 of The Great British Baking Show is set to air Fridays at 9 PM ET through August 17. As always, check your local listings for dates and times as this series is prone to variable broadcast slots due to the fact that it often airs during pledge periods. We'll keep you posted as we know more! 

By Carmen Croghan for Reality on April 20th, 2018
Carmen Croghan

Carmen Croghan often looks at the state of her British addiction and wonders how it got so out of hand.  Was it the re-runs of Monty Python on PBS, that second British Invasion in the 80’s or the royal pomp and pageantry of Charles and Diana’s wedding? Whatever the culprit, it led her to a college semester abroad in London and over 25 years of wishing she could get back to the UK again.  Until she is able, she fills the void with British telly, some of her favorites being comedies such as The Office, The IT Crowd, Gavin and Stacey, Alan Partridge, Miranda and Green Wing. Her all-time favorite series, however, is Life On Mars. A part-time reference library staffer, she spends an inordinate amount of time watching just about any British series she can track down which she then writes about for her own blog Everything I Know about the UK, I Learned from the BBC.  She is excited to be contributing to Telly Visions and endeavors to share her Anglo-zeal with its readers.

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