The Great British Bake Off is back in our lives and as good as it’s always been, despite all that furore over its Channel 4 move.
So as we all get to grips with the latest batch of bakers in the iconic tent, we thought we’d take a look back at the eight series to date to find out which series would be crowned as Star Baker – and which would be sent home first like poor Imelda.
It’s worth noting right from the start that none of the series (so far) have been bad, so just think of the lower ones like soufflés that didn’t quite rise, but still taste delicious.
8. Series 1 (2010)
Winner: Edd Kimber
When Bake Off hit Netflix UK in April 2018, even some long-term fans were surprised by how different it was back in the first-ever series.
Not only wasn’t there a Star Baker, but the tent travelled around the country, it wasn’t narrated by Mel and Sue and it lasted a mere six episodes. A lot of the familiar elements are there, but the recipe hadn’t yet been perfected and you’d be hard pushed to remember the 10 bakers.
7. Series 3 (2012)
Winner: John Whaite
Some might have an issue with series 3 being this low given that it had the high drama of John Whaite slicing his finger open, leading to no contestant exiting the tent for the first time in the show’s history.
However, barring John’s injury and his surprise victory, it’s otherwise a fairly standard Bake Off outing, even if it marked a turning point for the show in becoming a ratings hit with 6.5 million tuning in for the final.
6. Series 2 (2011)
Winner: Joanne Wheatley
The Bake Off we know and love pretty much found its formula in series 2 as Mel and Sue took over narration duties, the Star Baker award was introduced and the tent (rightly) stayed in one single location.
It was also the series that saw the contestants – and not the bakes – become the stars of the show as Rob Billington won hearts everywhere, Mary-Anne Boermans delighted everyone with her infectious laugh and winner Joanne wowed with her intricate designs.
Oh, and there was a squirrel with huge nuts.
5. Series 8 (2013)
Winner: Sophie Faldo
After the controversial move, the first series of Bake Off on Channel 4 proved that we had nothing to fear, even without Mel, Sue and Mary Berry as Noel Fielding, Sandi Toksvig and Prue Leith ended up being worthy replacements.
Some of the hosts were different, but the series smartly decided to keep things just as they were otherwise, helped by some instantly likeable contestants such as Liam Charles and Yan Tsou. The only thing it lacked was a stand-out moment during the show itself as the notable moments happened off-screen.
Anyone else going to block Prue’s Twitter account on the day of the 2018 final, just in case?
4. Series 4 (2012)
Winner: Frances Quinn
Sure, we might have basically known that Frances Quinn had won due to a flurry of late bets on the outsider, yet that didn’t stop series four from having a whole heap of controversies that cemented its place as the show everyone had to watch.
You had the accusations of Paul Hollywood’s favouritism towards Ruby Tandoh, Sue accidentally squashing Howard Middleton’s muffins and, as if the poor guy hadn’t suffered enough, Deborah Manger unwittingly stole his custard in a trifle challenge.
All of it added together to unmissable television and led to the show’s first big channel move across to BBC One for the next series.
3. Series 7 (2016)
Winner: Candice Brown
It was only a few weeks into series 7 that the bombshell was dropped about the Channel 4 move, but BBC One made sure that Bake Off went out on a high with a winning blend of contestants who were all delightful.
As an added bonus, you had the adorable friendships that blossomed between pretty much all of them, especially Selasi’s close bonds with Val and Benjamina. Oh, and the friendship between Selasi and the entire nation of the United Kingdom.
Since it was filmed in advance, there wasn’t any hint about the move or the exits, yet there was a bittersweet edge to the whole thing as we knew that this version of Bake Off as we knew it was coming to an end.
It didn’t mean we were ready yet for Mel and Sue to joke about leaving the tent though.
2. Series 5 (2014)
Winner: Nancy Birtwhistle
Sure, we already has #CustardGate, but that was a mere trifle compared to the epic controversy of #BinGate.
Never has a Baked Alaska caused so much drama as when Diana Beard was accused of “sabotage” when she took Iain Watters’ ice cream out of her freezer, leading Iain to throw it away and present a BIN to the judges. Diana never returned to the tent after that week, but it wasn’t due to #BinGate as she had lost her sense of taste and smell.
And that wasn’t even the only dodgy decision of the series as Enwezor Nzegwu had the audacity to use shop-bought icing on one of his bakes.
Some might say it was the icing on the cake of a classic Bake Off series that also had delightful bakers (we still love you, Norman) and a seriously high pedigree, with Richard Burr getting five Star Baker awards and still not winning the series.
But, like with Richard, this series is just pipped to the overall Star Baker crown by another…
1. Series 6 (2015)
Winner: Nadiya Hussain
We could just put Nadiya’s incredible winning speech here as justification for putting this series top. After all, it made Mary Berry cry and when Mary cries, the nation cries with her.
Even before Nadiya’s deserved victory, she had won everyone over with her facial expressions for just about every occasion, but the real success of series 6 was its winning blend of bakers who all stepped up to the spotlight.
You had Paul Jagger’s astonishing bread lion (still one of the best Showstoppers ever), dishy doc Tamal Ray melting hearts everywhere, Flora Sheddon always putting that added extra onto any bake, Mat Riley putting seven shots of gin into his gin and tonic Madeira cake… The list is endless.
And it wasn’t without a tiny sprinkling of controversy either as Mary proved she wasn’t flawless by spoiling the name of the baker leaving in week three on live radio. At least it wasn’t the winner…
The fact that Nadiya ended up becoming one of the most beloved reality TV winners ever was really just the cherry on top of a perfect series.
The Great British Bake Off airs on Channel 4.
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