BBC Worldwide Scores Format Sales for Great Bake Off & More

BBC Worldwide has secured format sales for several titles, including The Great Bake Off and Junior Bake Off, ahead of MIPCOM.

Sony Pictures Television Networks in Hungary snapped up The Great Bake Off, bringing its total number of format licenses to 26. The ten-part series, called Ide Süss! – Az ország nagy cukrászversenye (Bake Here! The Country’s Big Baking Competition), will air as a weekday strip this fall on VIASAT3.

In Brazil, free-to-air channel SBT picked up the format rights for Junior Bake Off. A companion ten-part series to Bake Off Brasil (Mao na Massa), Junior Bake Off sees 16 young amateur bakers aged between the ages of 8 and 12 compete. The series is hosted by Carol Fiorentino and the judges are Beca Milano and Fabrizio Fasano Jr. Additionally, Portuguese public broadcaster RTP acquired the rights to Sewing Bee for its flagship channel RTP1.

Sumi Connock, the creative director of formats, BBC Worldwide, said: “The Great Bake Off is one of the most successful cooking formats of all time and we’re delighted that the global appetite for one of our most-loved brands continues to grow.”

At MIPCOM, BBC Worldwide’s formats slate will also include Astronauts: Toughest Job in the Universe. The program sees 12 ordinary people take part in a six-week selection process to prove they’ve got the combination of scientific, physical and psychological skills needed to become an astronaut. “This is not the average job-selection process, and the candidates are not your regular reality-show contributors,” said Connock. “The intelligence within this format (and our contestants) and the universe we explore is thrilling and exciting new territory.”

From the creators of You’re Back in the Room, Pitch Battle sees the best singing groups in the country go head-to-head in choral combat. There is also The Boss, a daily quiz show that “ticks that box for affordable, adaptable, completely scalable game shows that are in high demand,” noted Connock.

Other new formats include How to Stay Young and Meet the Humans. There are also Bang on Budget and Deadliest Lovers. Connock added: “BBC Worldwide is home to some of the world’s most-talked-about, loved and high-impact factual-entertainment formats.”