Review: Great British Baking Show~The Beginnings

I was overjoyed to see a New Release on Netflix a few days ago: The Great British Baking Show: The Beginnings.

I had rejoiced a few weeks ago when I saw a new season of The Great British Baking Show, but I was crushed when this new season did not have grandmotherly Mary Berry and the two comic sidekicks Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins.

Instead, Paul Hollywood was joined by Prue Leith as a judge who isn't grandmotherly at all. She reminds me more of a brusque captain of industry. Even worse Mel and Sue were replaced by Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding. I'm sure Sandi and Noel are lovely people, but they don't have the sense of humor or compassion displayed by Mel and Sue.

New Beginnings

This time I wasn't let down because The Great British Baking Show: The Beginnings has the original crew: Paul, Mary, Mel, and Sue.

In truth The Beginnings isn't new. In fact it's a single season of the show even though Netflix branded it as a new Original. I believe it's actually the second season of this long-running show which first debuted in 2010.

In the UK, this show is known as The Great British Bake-Off. The name had to be changed for the U.S. market because Pillsbury owns the trademarked phrase “Bake-Off.”

The BBC had a deal with Love Productions, the production company for the show, for seven years. During that time, the show became a huge international hit.

There's something uniquely addicting about this bunch of bake-crazy contestants.

I love watching them bake whatever is required for each of the challenges because they're all so darn polite and nice to each other. It's refreshing after watching some American reality shows.

Success of course means Love Productions wants more money. So they broke with the BBC. Thus the last 2 seasons have aired on Channel 4 in the UK, with exclusive streaming rights on Netflix.

(The first of these seasons was the one that deflated my enthusiasm after watching a couple of episodes.)

For now though, with the release of this old "new" season, we have Mary Berry, Paul Hollywood, Mel, and Sue back for a while. So be sure and watch. It's like reuniting with old friends.

By the way, are you a fan of the show? If so, have you ever baked anything you saw on the The Great British Baking Show?

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Takeaway Truth

I haven't, but I have started baking cakes again, much to my husband's delight.