# Please recommend a show like Great British Baking Show **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [October 14, 2020, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972 "2020-10-14T23:26:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2020, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972/42 "2020-10-18T15:28:57Z")
Ooh, thanks for this thread. Lots of good ideas for stuff i might watch! > [@bump](#): > > I also kind of liked “Blown Away” on Netflix; This is what i was going to recommend. It’s a little more competitive than bake off, but it’s nice, and the glass is gorgeous. > [@madmonk28](#): > > Making It has been mentioned. I’d also recommend Nailed It, which is a baking show for people who aren’t good bakers. It’s all in good fun, though. I’d like to disrecommend this show. I watched about half an episode. It’s cringe-inducing. It’s all about watching people fail. And fail at making food that’s complicated, but not very good. Netflix keeps suggesting it, and just seeing the trailer makes me feel a little ill. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2020, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972/43 "2020-10-18T16:14:31Z")
The thing about is, no one really cares that they fail. No one competing has any reason to think they’re going to succeed, people who have trouble making cookies try to make a wedding cake. Every once in a while they surprise themselves. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2020, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972/44 "2020-10-18T17:16:56Z")
Hmm, on the one I watched, they were disappointed. And I felt like the hosts shamed them. I really hated it, but maybe other episodes are better than the one I watched. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2020, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972/45 "2020-10-18T21:39:25Z")
There’s a “Bake Off: The Professionals” show but I don’t recommend it. They get in teams of professional pastry chefs, give them absolutely impossible tasks and then shred them when they fail to deliver. It’s actually quite cruel. ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2020, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972/46 "2020-10-18T21:51:30Z")
Thanks to this thread, I checked out Making It when we temporarily had Hulu access. I love it. Definitely also recommend. I also don’t quite recommend Nailed It. I’d say most of the ribbing is fairly gentle, and the contestants generally don’t really expect to reproduce the example, but I’d say the feel is pretty different from GBBO. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2020, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972/47 "2020-10-18T22:12:11Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > There’s a “Bake Off: The Professionals” show but I don’t recommend it. They get in teams of professional pastry chefs, give them absolutely impossible tasks and then shred them when they fail to deliver. It’s actually quite cruel. There were also some Great British Bake Off charity specials with celebrity contestants. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2020, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972/48 "2020-10-19T00:25:14Z")
_Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing_ is an amazingly sweet show. It might help to know who Paul Whitehouse and Bob Mortimer are, but then maybe it’s best to go in cold. After both of these older comedians had some heart issues, they decided to go fly-fishing together in idyllic rivers across Britain to rekindle their friendship, improve their health, and generally have jolly peaceful fun. It’s sort of like _The Trip_ only without any fiction. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2020, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972/49 "2020-10-19T00:46:06Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Has anyone mentioned _LEGO Masters_ ? The UK version is my fave, but there’s an Australian version too which is much more flashy and competitive and I think the US version is taking its lead from the AU one. How/where have you seen the UK and Australian versions? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2020, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972/50 "2020-10-19T00:51:57Z")
I live in Australia, and also I access a lot of UK shows in ways I am not technically supposed to. Because I grew up (in NZ) watching a lot of British shows, I still have a great love for their sensibilities, and watch as many of their series as I can. The UK show (the original) has only had two series, and is much more gentle and encouraging, and includes a lot of kids. The AU show is much more high energy and competitive, at least what I saw of it (I immediately disliked it). It’s very popular, though, so I guess it comes down to taste. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2020, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972/51 "2020-10-19T09:53:07Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > There were also some Great British Bake Off charity specials with celebrity contestants. Ah yes, they’re good, because the contestants are very entertaining and have very little expectation of being able to bake anything edible. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2020, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972/52 "2020-10-19T15:06:47Z")
My wife has consumed all of the Great British Bake-Off available so, based on this thread, we tried GB Sewing Bee and are enjoying it. Also tried Repair Shop and it’s decent enough although the canned banter is a bit much. But it’s also half hour episodes vs an hour for Great British Whatever so I can deal with it in half hour bites. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972/53 "2020-10-20T00:28:31Z")
A new version of _All Creatures Great and Small_ is due to air on Masterpiece on PBS in January. A friend of mine who has access to early viewing of it says it’s just as gentle and sweet as the original series. > **[All Creatures Great and Small on MASTERPIECE on PBS](https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/shows/all-creatures-great-and-small/#)** > > James Herriot’s adventures as a veterinarian in 1930’s Yorkshire get a glorious new adaptation based on his beloved books. Watch full episodes online. #AllCreaturesPBS ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972/54 "2020-10-20T17:28:35Z")
Another possibility might be Michael Portillo’s “railway journeys” series of travelogues, first through various bits of Britain, then the Continent and later America. I couldn’t stand him in his political career but he makes a tolerable TV presenter (garish clothes apart). ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972/55 "2020-10-20T20:11:29Z")
How about Slow TV? The Norwegian rail system mounts cameras on their trains, and Slow TV broadcasts the run. Snow, fjords, mountains, just unnarrated footage. It’s on Pluto TV: [Slow TV on Pluto TV](https://pluto.tv/live-tv/slow-tv?utm_source=homepage) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972/56 "2020-10-20T20:28:35Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > How about Slow TV? The Norwegian rail system mounts cameras on their trains, and Slow TV broadcasts the run. I used to watch that on Pluto, I stopped watching when I noticed that they ran out of content which was new to me. Slow TV is how I learned about this: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/OtXtnXXg4Zs/maxresdefault.jpg "Ole Tobias Olsen") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtXtnXXg4Zs) ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2020, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972/57 "2020-10-22T03:38:21Z")
We’ve become addicted to narrowboat travel shows. We started out with [Amazon.com](https://www.amazon.com/Travels-by-Narrowboat/dp/B07NXQG5HB) which features this lulling put-put narrowboat that is really chill. There are a ton of other shows, our current favorite now is [https://www.foxesafloat.com/](https://www.foxesafloat.com/) on Youtube. There is a whole genre of these shows and they are great for no-stress tv watching. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2021, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972/58 "2021-02-28T18:47:06Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > How about Slow TV? The Norwegian rail system mounts cameras on their trains, and Slow TV broadcasts the run. Snow, fjords, mountains, just unnarrated footage. I found a similar stream on my Roku last night. Turns out the operator also has a YouTube channel: > **[RailCowGirl](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj-Xm8j6WBgKY8OG7s9r2vQ)** > > Female train driver/engineer. Filming my everyday view from the driver's cab and bringing you cabviews and the train driver's view from the Bergen Line, Flåm Railway as well as lines in Norway. The Bergen Line and Flåm Railway is considered one of... ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2021, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972/59 "2021-02-28T20:46:47Z")
For pleasurable reality TV, I recommend checking out NHK World’s programming, presenting Japan to the wider world. (In my area it’s on one of the side channels for one of our PBS stations.) The most GBBO-ish show is _Lunch On!_ Its thesis: you can best get to know someone by having lunch with them. So in a given episode you might meet a random office worker picked up on the street, or a crew of stonemasons, or a fleet of taxi drivers, or a housespouse; get to see how and what they eat; and listen to them talk about what they do all day. The stakes could hardly be lower, and while there are shows that are much better I can’t think of any that are much more fun. (Some people hate the English-language narrator — I think she’s a comic genius who makes it clear that the show is basically a Richard Scarry book.) ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2021, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972/60 "2021-03-08T16:31:34Z")
Yes, if you don’t mind lack of British Accents, _Blown Away_ (Netflix) is quite similar in tone, and perhaps even a bit more gentle (Paul Hollywood is kind of a dick if you ask me). I also appreciate it’s brevity, I’ve gotten through a whole season in a day. Just be prepared to giggle everytime the word “Glory Hole” is mentioned. _American Barbecue Showdown_ (Netflix) is good if you prefer food themes. I recall it being pretty gentle too. If you _need_ British Accents and don’t particularly need a food theme, I rather liked _Interior Design Masters._ To be honest though, my favorite competition show on Netflix is _Forged in Fire_, where they make swords, knives and other weapons. I _love_ how objective the judging is. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2021, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972/61 "2021-03-08T17:11:09Z")
Ooh, I was thinking I might start watching it. Thanks for the recommendation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-show-like-great-british-baking-show/922972.md?page=4)