- The new series of The Great British Bake Off returns next week – on Channel 4
- It paid £75m for the show after it pulled in more than 15m viewers for the BBC
- C4’s chief creative officer, Jay Hunt, said she wants to see more than 3m viewers
Channel 4 is hoping for ‘anything north’ of 3million Bake Off viewers – more than 12million less than last year’s final shown on the BBC.
The channel forked out £75million to broadcast the show and its chief creative officer, Jay Hunt, was speaking just days before the new series starts on Tuesday.
Presenter Paul Hollywood is the only remaining crew member from the original BBC show – which pulled in an average of 13.6million viewers.
Channel 4 has said it would be ‘delighted’ if the new show (pictured) attracted 7million viewers
Ms Hunt, who was talking at the TV Festival before she leaves her post after handing in her notice in June, said she would be ‘delighted’ with seven million viewers.
According to the Mirror, she said: ‘If it gets five, six, seven (million) I will be absolutely delighted.
‘I can be very clear this show is break even for Channel 4 around three million so anything north of that will be fantastic.’
Last year’s final, shown of BBC One, drew an audience of 15.9million people.
The channel’s chief creative officer, Jay Hunt (pictured), was speaking just days before the new show starts on Tuesday
But a BBC source told the Mirror: ‘So C4 are happy if Bake Off gets a fifth of the BBC audience? Very low bar. More limbo than hurdle.’
Ms Hunt said she thought new presenter Noel Fielding would be an ‘interesting flavour in the mix’ when she picked him for the role.
He later joked he thought it was an ‘admin error’ when he was offered the position.
In the new series, viewers will be introduced to a number of quirky characters -including a software developer who has survived cancer, a former Officer in the Royal Artillery and a balding banker.