Great Sci-Fi Bake Off: Daisy Ridley and James McAvoy Join The Great British Bake Off Celebrity Miniseries

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Courtesy: Channel 4

For the last four years, since the beloved TV series moved from BBC to Channel 4, The Great British Bake Off (I just can't call it The Great British Baking Show) has aired a between-seasons special miniseries where celebrities enter the Bake Off tent, and compete as a fundraiser for Stand Up To Cancer. Some of the biggest stars to appear on The Great Celebrity Bake-Off (or The Great Stand Up To Cancer Bake-Off, to use its official, but much more clunky title) in the past have included John Lithgow, Russel Brand, Louis Theroux, James Blunt, Richard Dreyfuss, and a whole host of notable British comedians who frequent shows like Taskmaster, 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, QI, and Big Fat Quiz. But this year, Bake Off has gathered easily its most star-studded line-up ever, headlined by two major sci-fi franchise stars - Professor Xavier and Rey themselves, James McAvoy and Daisy Ridley.

Getting two major Hollywood stars who are still very much at the peaks of their careers is quite an impressive feat for Bake Off, and hopefully an accomplishment that might finally get the Celebrity Bake Off miniseries some American distribution. The past three seasons of Celebrity Bake Off were not released in America, leaving US fans to resort to quickly-pulled YouTube uploads. Given McAvoy and Ridley's massive popularity in America thanks to X-Men and Star Wars (among other things, of course), hopefully this new season will debut on Netflix alongside the main Bake Off (or, excuse me, The Great British Baking Show) series.

Courtesy: Channel 4
This season of The Great Celebrity (Stand Up To Cancer) Bake Off will run for five episodes, airing sometime in the spring, although the exact air date has not yet been announced. Joining McAvoy and Ridley in the tent are comedian and soon-to-be Doctor Who co-star John Bishop, Olympic and Paralympic athletes Kelly Holmes and Ade Adepitan, comedians Tom Allen, David Baddiel, Rob Beckett, and Katherine Ryan, TV hosts Stacey Dooley, Nick Grimshaw, and Anneka Rice, author Philippa Perry, YouTuber KSI, musicians Jade Thirlwall, Alexandra Burke, Dizzee Rascal, Anne-Marie, and Nadine Coyle, and actor Reece Shearesmith. Four celebrities will compete in each episode, which as per usual will be judged by Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith. Matt Lucas is confirmed as returning to host this miniseries, but there is no word on whether Noel Fielding will also return. He has not been mentioned in any of the press materials about the season, and is not included in the official press photo, and he recently became a father for the second time, so it seems quite possible that he might be sitting this between-regular-seasons miniseries out to be with the family. Which is a shame, because it would be great to see Fielding pull McAvoy and Ridley into his distinctly Mighty Booshy absurdist shenanigans, but the season will surely be something special either way, with this cast.

- Christopher S. Jordan

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