'The Great British Baking Show' Season 8, Episode 7 Recap: '80s Week

When the idea of historically themed weeks started on The Great British Baking Show, they began with quintessentially English ones. The first, Victorian Week, celebrated the longest-serving monarch before Elizabeth II and the quirky delicacies that trended during her reign. The second, Tudor Week, also celebrated historical relics of baking, but this time, the ones associated with British's most famous king, Henry VIII. Both had the bakers make creations that are no longer everyday staples but could be if viewers were so inclined.

Last year, the show brought the concept back, but with an unabashed commercial angle. The Roaring 20s just so happened to coincide with the Downton Abbey film's release on their side of the pond, an attempt to jump on the show's interwar period coattails. Unfortunately, perhaps because it's only been 100 years, the challenges weren't nearly as impressive. That brings us to "the 80s" and this year's "historical" challenge. On the one hand, the 1980s were a time of significant food fads, as technology and a growing nouveau riche gave rise to short-lived favorites. On the other, this might just be an excuse to let Matt and Noel have at it with the references and remind American Netflix watchers Stranger Things will eventually return.

As the show emphasizes, this week was always going to be difficult, no matter the theme. The pandemic delayed July/August filming period catches up with the production, creating two of the hottest days of filming in the tent in the show's history. The Signature challenge kicks off with eight quiches, two flavors. This French pastry was invented back in the 1800s, but the first English version, quiche Lorraine, didn't hit in England until the mid-1920s. That being said, the pastry does have 80s cred, as it was the kind of thing that was served as posh during the "Greed is good" era. As always, the Signature is judged on a pass/fail metric.