After the dropping of a very exciting teaser trailer, we’ve started the countdown until Great British Bake Off returns to our screens. But one face is missing – where’d Matt Lucas go from the host line-up?
While the majority of the teaser consists of sentient ingredients making their way to the Bake Off tent, we see our judges and hosts come together in excitement at the end. Prue Leith, Noel Fielding and Paul Hollywood are back, but Matt Lucas is noticeably absent, replaced by new host, Alison Hammond.
So why isn’t Matt Lucas back for the new series of Great British Bake Off?
In an interview on Zoe Ball’s Radio 2 Breakfast Show earlier this year, Matt explained that he wouldn’t be returning for the next series of Bake Off because he’d ‘quit’ to prioritise working with Little Britain co-star David Walliams once more.
‘Me and David Walliams have started writing together again,’ he explained. ‘We just thought it was time, so we quit our jobs and decided to do that.'
Prue Leith has also stated that Matt’s busy schedule with other projects prevented him from committing to another summer filming Bake Off.
‘If [you're] close to Matt, you do know that he never stops working and he has so many projects and people keep asking him to do things and he loves theatre...’ she said. ‘He absolutely loves that kind of show.’
She added: ‘And you can't commit to it if you're on Bake Off, because we film that all summer. So I think he thought three years is enough. But I think he loved it and we're really sorry.’
Matt has also elaborated a little further on what we might expect from his first post-Bake Off project: ‘It will be a show with us playing lots of characters. But we have to write the treatment for it and we have to go and pitch it and see if anyone wants to make it.’ Intriguing.
Who has replaced Matt Lucas on the new series of Bake Off?
None other than our girl, Alison Hammond. What a worthy replacement. She will co-host alongside Noel Fielding, returning to the tent this time on the other side of the counter after appearing on Bake Off herself as a contestant in 2020.
Alison herself tweeted her excitement at her new role: 'The new series of @BritishBakeOff is back with a new addition- Meeee !! I just can't wait for you to meet the bakers, they are incredible'.
When and where will the new season of Great British Bake Off air?
No release date has been confirmed yet, but according to Channel 4’s autumn schedule it looks like it’ll be around 12 September. So not long to wait.