‘The Great British Baking Show’ Releases First Season 17 Image
'The Great British Baking Show' Season 17 arrives as upheaval roils the rest of the Great British lineup.
There’s currently a lot of behind-the-scenes turnover at The Great British Baking Show ahead of the debut of Season 17. The most obvious is the one in front of the camera, as judge Prue Leith exits for a well-earned retirement after a long and illustrious career, and new judge Nigella Lawson takes over the position. However, American viewers might have already noticed there’s upheaval off camera too – not with the cast, but with the show’s distribution.
It was just over a year ago – May 2025 to be exact – when Roku announced it had ponied up for the rights to the entire Love Productions catalog not claimed by Netflix. It was an extensive array of titles, including The Great British Baking Show Seasons 1 through 7 (i.e., the BBC years), the new seasons (i.e., non-HBO-owned) of The Great Pottery Throw Down, plus all seasons of The Great British Sewing Bee, Celebrity Baking Show, The Great Canadian Baking Show, and The Great American Baking Show.
The deal barely lasted a year. While many of these older titles are comfort binges, the real point of the deal was to revive The Great American Baking Show, which had already flopped once on ABC. Roku had been experimenting with The Great American Baking Show: Celebrity Holiday, which (for those who found it) was a delight, and believed it could make a regular U.S. version of the series work.
Unfortunately, between then and now, Roku was bought out by Fox (which also owned Tubi). The deal supposedly will not combine the two services, and it won’t close until 2027, but the Love Productions deal looks to be a major casualty of the coming merger, especially after The Great American Baking Show Season 4 flopped even more spectacularly than it did on ABC.
(ABC’s version was at least on broadcast and ran weekly. Roku dropped everything as a binge with zero marketing.)
With Season 17 heading to Channel 4 and Netflix in only a few short weeks, it will return to an American landscape that currently has only The Great British Baking Show Seasons 8 through 15 available. (Still misnumbered under the “Collections” moniker and everything!) However, the exit of all these shows from Roku does open up the possibility that another streaming service – one that’s more tuned to the GBBO fandom – will pick up the entire package.
Meanwhile, the original series is betting big on the new judging lineup, and I personally hope they’re right.
According to the Season 17 press release:
The image taken on the very first day of filming and Nigella’s first-ever day in the tent marks the beginning of a new chapter with judges Paul Hollywood and Nigella Lawson alongside hosts Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding together in the iconic Bake Off tent.
Following January’s announcement that Nigella Lawson would join the show as judge, the Bake Off foursome have spent the hottest summer together in the tent, with a new intake of bakers rising to each of the challenges. With filming now complete, viewers can expect to see Nigella bringing her trademark warmth, wit and passion for flavor to the tent, alongside Paul Hollywood and his famously exacting eye for a great bake on judging duties, as Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding return to guide the bakers and keep them smiling through the thrills, spills and showstoppers in what promises to be a truly delicious series.
As has been the case for the last few seasons, hosts Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding will head up the cast in the tent. Longtime judge Paul Hollywood will be joined by Lawson, his third co-judge since the series started, to set the challenges and do the tastings. The roster of baking hopefuls competing in the tent is expected to be revealed closer to the show’s premiere.
The Great British Baking Show Season 17 is expected to debut in September 2026 on Channel 4 in the U.K., and follow on Netflix in the U.S. within the week. The series will continue following a weekly release schedule, with the finale due out around Thanksgiving, before being followed by Prue Leith’s last hurrah in the tent for The Great British Baking Show: Holidays Season 9.
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We will update when the rest of the Great British lineup secures a new American home.
