First episode of Bake Off scores record high for Channel 4
The baking series debuted on its new home and has been a ratings success for Channel 4.
The Great British Bake Off’s debut on Channel 4 served up one of the biggest audiences in the station’s 35-year history, new figures reveal.
Full ratings for Bake Off’s launch on August 29 were a massive 9.5 million.
The number, which includes people who recorded the show and watched up to seven days later, is large enough to make it into Channel 4’s top 10 biggest audiences of all time.
It is also the third highest audience for a Bake Off launch since the show began in 2010.
Full ratings for last year’s launch on BBC One were 13.6 million.
Channel 4’s chief creative officer Jay Hunt said: “Bake Off has well and truly landed on Channel 4. I’m thrilled viewers have warmed to Paul, Prue, Noel and Sandi and are enjoying the exceptional standard of baking.”
The largest ever audience in Channel 4’s history was for the final episode of the mini-series A Woman of Substance, which was watched by 13.9 million viewers in January 1985.
The tense drama, which stars Suranne Jones, drew an average audience of 6.3 million viewers, while Bake Off managed six million.
Both numbers are likely to rise when the full ratings are published next week.
Doctor Foster fans were gripped as Dr Gemma Foster (played by Jones) had to contend with the news her ex-husband was moving back to the neighbourhood with his new wife and child.
His baking dreams crumbled when his creations for biscuit week failed to impress judges Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood.
Bake Off’s overnight ratings of six million are half a million lower than the equivalent figure for last week’s launch.
:: All Channel 4 figures include those who watched on Channel 4+1.
