The vicious feud between the Channel 4 and BBC bosses that could destroy the Great British Bake Off
WHEN BBC Director-General Tony Hall’s phone rang on Monday afternoon, he was expecting good news.
Despite a year of tense negotiations involving astronomical sums, he had been told the signs were still positive that The Great British Bake Off would remain in its original Beeb home.
The regular meetings between Lord Hall’s lieutenants and Love Productions, which owns the show’s format, had been curt and unashamedly dominated by money.
But that one brief phone call, from Love co-founder Richard McKerrow, ended everything — the BBC’s Bake Off days were over.
That same afternoon Richard — who had dreamed up the idea for the show at a summer fete — took a taxi across London to Channel 4’s HQ to put pen to paper and land the biggest payday of his life.
Just two sheets of A4 paper and a couple of scribbles were all it took to assure £75million was heading into his company’s coffers.
It was the result of years of simmering tension, opposing views on the value of the show, secret legal battles over claims of stolen ideas and an ever-burning desire to cash in on the Bake Off brand.
It also highlighted the simmering six-year feud between the Beeb’s director of content Charlotte Moore and Channel 4’s chief creative officer Jay Hunt — who within hours triumphantly announced her channel’s poaching of Bake Off.
This was acutely frustrating for Charlotte, 48, as she was the bigwig who first commissioned and nurtured Bake Off on BBC2. “She always saw it as her baby,” said a pal.
She and Jay are said to have “loathed” each other when Charlotte had a senior role in documentaries at the BBC and Jay was BBC1 station controller in 2010.
An insider revealed of the shock outcome: “Bake Off got personal. This rivalry meant it ended with such a botched deal. The negotiations were rushed because Jay wanted it for herself at all costs.
“Jay will feel she’s got one over on her old enemy in taking Bake Off from under her nose. She and Channel 4 are delighted with their coup.”
The two executives’ horns first locked in public after a 2008 documentary on pedigree dog breeding meant the BBC lost the rights to screen the annual Crufts dog show.
Charlotte’s documentary triggered a humiliating Ofcom investigation for Jay. Ofcom ruled that the programme, which made comparisons to Nazi racial theory, failed to give Crufts organiser The Kennel Club a proper right of reply.
The following year the BBC’s relationship with The Kennel Club broke down to such an extent that the corporation lost the rights to cover the event it had screened for 42 years.
Then came the ageism row. In 2009 presenter Miriam O’Reilly was fired from Countryfile and sued the BBC for age discrimination. In January 2011 — a day after Jay joined Channel 4 — her claim was upheld.
Jay, who lives with her husband and two children in Clapham, South London, was livid with embarrassment at being called to give evidence at Miriam’s employment tribunal, where she was accused of “ageism, sexism and that she hated women” — allegations she totally denied.
Charlotte has since made a point of promoting older women, most notably Anne Robinson and Angela Rippon, both 71, which Jay’s friends claim is a calculated dig at her.
Shortly after Jay’s departure from the BBC, leaving Charlotte as head of documentaries, the Guardian newspaper quoted a Channel 4 source saying that BBC documentaries had an “old-fashioned character”.
Friends of Charlotte are in little doubt where the barb originated. Charlotte, who lives in London with her BBC cameraman husband and two children, was furious that she was forced to deny lacking creativity.
The two women’s rivalry is further fuelled by a sharp difference in pay. Last year at Channel 4 Jay’s salary had risen to £588,000, compared to Charlotte’s £295,000.
The latest drama over Bake Off seems set to prolong the animosity. A TV source said: “There is no love lost between the two of them.
“But moving to Channel 4 has thrown Bake Off into crisis. Colleagues of Jay must be wondering what exactly she’s taken on.”
But another source said: "Their rivalry is not personal and is natural because they're two successful women working in a highly competitive market."
For a start, the show has lost star presenting duo Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, who assured fans they would not be “following the dough” when they quit on Tuesday.
They are now expected to be richly rewarded by the BBC for their loyalty.
Mel has already been announced as the host of Gary Barlow’s new Saturday night entertainment show Let it Shine, which will replace The Voice next year.
It is thought that Sue was already looking for a way out and saw Bake Off’s move from the BBC as the perfect time to jump.
After Mel and Sue’s departure Bake Off’s producers are now battling to keep the nation’s sweetheart Mary Berry and blue-eyed baker Paul Hollywood — who take home £500,000 each per series — at the show’s helm.
A senior TV executive told The Sun: “It is one of the biggest disasters to face Channel 4 if they don’t sign up Mary and Paul now. Otherwise Jay Hunt has spent £75million on a tent.”
But we can reveal that the Channel 4 swoop was no split-second decision.
Four’s chief executive David Abraham and chairman Charles Gurassa had agreed with Jay’s plan to go for it if the talks between the BBC and Love Productions broke down.
They put their plan for a £75million bid — a huge £25million per year — to the board within the past fortnight to make sure there was no delay.
Industry sources also believe Jay was desperate for a sure-fire Channel 4 hit. One said: “Their ratings are pretty woeful and they’ve been slammed for some of the more seedy shows, such as Naked Attraction.
“Jay needed to deliver a hit and get away from the sleaze, and she knew Bake Off would do this.”
Meanwhile ITV is said to be delighted it steered clear of the melee. Its new director of television Kevin Lygo has privately been talking non-stop about stealing the show from the Beeb’s grasp, but a channel source said this week: “The execs are more than relieved.
“They wanted it so badly and threw some big-money offers at it.
“But it would have been an albatross around their necks. Some shows are born and bred on the BBC and this is one of them.”
But if there were grim faces at the BBC and anxious ones at Channel 4 this week, the champagne corks have been positively popping at Love, which also made the hugely controversial documentary Benefits Street.
A source there said: “We’re running a business, not a charity.
“Richard and [joint Love co-founder] Anna Beattie want to make millions from the brand they created. The opportunities to monetise Bake Off are endless — products, events, spin-offs, we want to do it all. The BBC held us back on that front.”
Insiders said the bad blood between Love and the BBC was not just about money. Two years ago Love accused the Beeb of stealing the Bake Off format and applying it to other competitions — specifically BBC3 hairdressing series Hair, and The Big Painting Challenge on BBC1.
The shows were made in-house, and led Richard McKerrow to take up the issue with the then BBC director of television Danny Cohen.
A small financial settlement calmed the row but Love bosses never forgot what they still saw as the BBC’s “betrayal”.
related stories
Meanwhile there remains the problem of who should present the all-new Bake Off on Channel 4.
The 2015 winner Nadiya Hussain has already emerged as a potential judge if Mary and Paul do quit.
The 31-year-old Luton-born mum of three, whose Chronicles of Nadiya series was also produced by Love, says she would be delighted to star, adding: “I could take over from Mary.
“Mel and Sue are amazing and those are difficult shoes to fill.
“Because the format works so well with all four of them, obviously, naturally, people are going to think, ‘Will it work without them?’
“The thought of not having them is daunting, but we need to accept that change happens.”
And in more worrying news for Channel 4 bosses, Mary, 81, is thought to be uncomfortable with the pressure being placed upon her by this week’s shake-up.
Holly Bell, a runner-up in the 2011 series of Bake Off, said: “I and other GBBO contestants have heard Sue talking about not doing another season for some time.
Bake Off relaunched both her career and Mel’s, but a whole new generation now love the duo, so their prospects are good.
“I do wonder if Mary will be next. She has definitely felt the strain of GBBO. It is incredibly hard work — long, long hours and often in cold conditions.
“Nobody would judge her for leaving. We’re all entitled to a retirement.”