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CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
31
Mixed:
8
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews
Sep 3, 2025
Season 3 Review:
What a perfect show it’s been. Ms. Berry’s authority and, yes, kindness provide an elegant counterweight to Mr. Hollywood’s lad-ish qualities. The Ms. Perkins and Ms. Giedroyc are smartly funny and always supportive of the struggling competitors. The contestants are normal, diverse and inspiring. And highly accomplished.
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Sep 3, 2025
Season 7 Review:
It's a time-tested recipe, cooked to perfection. [16 Jun 2017, p.53]
Sep 3, 2025
Season 6 Review:
Thanks the lord Mary Berry that literally nothing has changed about the contest's winning formula. ... [A] rosewater-infused layer cake of TV delight. [1 Jul 2016, p.55]
Sep 3, 2025
Season 5 Review:
This very British series is refreshing in that it's actually about the food; watching a dozen hopefuls bake up trifles while maintaining their dignity turns out to be a delight. [26 Dec 2014/2 Jan 2015, p.113]
The TimesSep 3, 2025
The Daily BeastSep 3, 2025
Season 15 Review:
The episode introduced a few twists that I won’t spoil, but may rankle Baking Show purists. There’s an elimination surprise that I enjoyed so much that I, again, unsurprisingly, teared up. And a shake-up in how the technical challenge is conducted made me raise an eyebrow. Mostly, though, I forgot how much I don’t just enjoy this show, but maybe even need it.
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The TimesSep 3, 2025
Season 15 Review:
An uneventful return. Fielding wasn’t overdoing the whimsy until he digressed about a goat that had walked into his home on its hind legs. But when Hollywood suddenly proffered his hand to Illiyin for a handshake, the look on her face was one of those moments when Bake Off’s warmth can transmute into small moments of joy — no hugs necessary.
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iSep 3, 2025
Season 13 Review:
There were very few surprises in the results. ... Noel and Matt were delightfully frivolous, Prue was still giddy at the prospect of eating a very boozy cake, and Paul’s “white walker” eyes still stalked the tent like a lioness hunting a gazelle. Bake Off has become a vital part of British culture and anything other than the delightfully twee show we know and love would cause riots in the flour aisles. The last thing Britain needs right now is more change.
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The GuardianSep 3, 2025
Season 12 Review:
Series 12 shows no early signs of staleness. It helps that the Bake Off’s casting process, dedicated to showing that the kind, self-deprecating charm of the hobbyist cuts across every social boundary with the possible exception of class, feels more pointedly celebratory of diversity than ever.
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Sep 3, 2025
Season 11 Review:
The show is a portal to a gleaming dimension where COVID-19 has been, if not eliminated, then at least contained. ... The bakers this season are a reassuringly familiar mix of established “Bake Off” types. ... The episode culminates in an endearingly bonkers showstopper challenge that, in its utterly harmless way, captures the mind-bending weirdness of the last few months without piercing the joyful “GBBO” bubble.
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The TelegraphSep 3, 2025
Season 11 Review:
The Great British Bake Off is back, as cheering as we hoped it would be but a little more surreal. ... The 12 contestants are a winning mix. ... [Matt] Lucas replaced Sandi Toksvig, who was wise and kind but also brought a little edginess to proceedings. Lucas seemed, understandably, a tad nervous.
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The GuardianSep 3, 2025
Season 11 Review:
There is a bit of tentative newness at the start – “Are you a fan of battenberg?” [new co-host Matt Lucas] asks more than one baker, during the battenberg challenge – but he settles in quickly. Soon, it is as if he has always been there. It helps that he and Noel Fielding are friends; their rapport is lovely to watch. ... Although there was an opportunity for a Big Brother-style reinvention, there is no significant change in tone or mood.
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Sep 3, 2025
Season 7 Review:
Regular viewers can expect to encounter all the usual Baking Show elements: a weekly series of challenges focused on different types of baked goods, from cakes to breads to botanically inspired concoctions; competitors who come across, without exception, as likable, decent humans; dashes of humor and encouraging pep talks from hosts Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc, for whom this is also the last season; and that huge wedding tent of a set that appears to have been set up in Lady Mary Crawley’s sprawling backyard.
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Sep 3, 2025
Season 6 Review:
For an airy, refreshing summer diversion, you need no more. What distinguishes the show is how national identity is baked into the concept. It presents a firm, if tongue in cheek, notion of Britishness as something you can feel and taste, but something that is evolving as well.
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Sep 3, 2025
Season 14 Review:
With so many bakers to attempt to get to know, there are some that don’t make an impression, and there’s not much time to focus on the bakes themselves, especially as there are no great disasters. .... Alison’s excitement is infectious, and you can tell she genuinely loves the show. Somehow she’s shown more enthusiasm and joy in this one episode than Noel has the entire time he’s been a presenter, and she’s drawing out the best in Prue, Paul, and Noel as well.
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Sep 3, 2025
Season 11 Review:
There’s a lot of personality in the tent and plenty of talent, with first star baker Peter a particular one to watch. A lot will hinge on how the changes to the filming schedule impact the bakers, but for now, viewers look to be in for another entertaining, inspiring, and tempting season of The Great British Baking Show.
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Sep 3, 2025
Season 5 Review:
Even when some of the results are rather shoddy, there is no humiliation. The judges limit themselves to a sympathetic, albeit honest, assessment. .... The filming is superb, and the baked goods look delectable. Plus, cooking for Mary Berry is a lot easier on the digestion than cooking for Gordon Ramsay. [26 Dec 2014
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The GuardianSep 3, 2025
Season 15 Review:
In the middle is Hammond, who in her second year in the role is clearly a natural. Effortlessly friendly and just naughty enough, she’s at ease with everyone, and puts everyone at ease. She is even rescuing Fielding by remoulding him as her doe-eyed straight man. With her on board, Bake Off can happily plateau for a while longer.
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The IndependentSep 3, 2025
The TelegraphSep 3, 2025
Season 12 Review:
Pleasant. Perfectly enjoyable. The presenters, the judges, the challenges – all were exactly as you’d expect them to be. The bakers might have been experimenting with their flavour combinations and pushing the limits with their creations, but the show remained safely within the confines of comfort TV.
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The IndependentSep 3, 2025
Season 11 Review:
As Prue Leith puts it with her usual fresh-from-the-oven homely warmth: “Same old Bake Off. Familiar. Comforting. Lovely.” ... Matt Lucas is an excellent choice to replace Sandi Toksvig, adding a pinch of wit and surrealism to the usual mix of weak puns and painful innuendo. ... Poor old Noel Fielding, still loping around the GBBO tent like a stray lurcher, seems strangely diminished by the arrival of the diminutive Lucas, who out-bants him with a bit too much ease.
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iSep 3, 2025
Sep 3, 2025
Season 11 Review:
Replacing [Sandi Tosvig] with [Matt] Lucas, known for his own cringeworthy style, turns both hosts into a sideshow rather than reassuring emcees. In the first episode, his bits were more distracting than amusing. But the real problem with the season premiere was the showstopper challenge. .... It wasn't a test of baking but of sculpting. .... COVID isn't the reason "Baking" is failing. The flavor of the series is off, and it might never be quite as sweet again.
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