Bridesmaids Actor Matt Lucas to Replace Sandi Toksvig on The Great British Baking Show
Prepare your oven mitts — actor and comedian Matt Lucas is joining The Great British Baking Show!
On Wednesday, the hit cooking competition series (known as The Great British Bake Off in the U.K.) revealed that the 46-year-old funnyman would be taking over co-hosting duties. The casting news comes two months after former host Sandi Toksvig announced her departure from the show.
Lucas — known for his big-screen roles in films like 2010’s Alice in Wonderland and as Rebel Wilson‘s brother in Bridesmaids back in 2011 — will bring the jokes alongside comedian Noel Fielding on the upcoming season. The two are joined on the show by judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith.
“I’m chuffed to bits to be joining the most delicious show on television,” Lucas told BBC News. “I can’t wait to break bread with Noel, Prue and Paul and meet the brilliant bakers.”
Added Fielding: “I love Matt. I love his warmth and his comedy and his big joyful smile.”
On Twitter, Lucas shared his excitement for the gig, writing, “I done a news,” also tweeting an image of himself from his early-2000s series Little Britain holding a plate full of baked goods.
RELATED: Sandi Toksvig Announces She’s Leaving The Great British Baking Show: ‘I Wish Everyone Well’
Frazer Harrison/Getty Matt Lucas
In January, Toksvig, 61, shared with fans that she’d be leaving the show after hosting since 2017. In a statement on Twitter, she said she would be moving on from the program to focus on other work projects.
“When stepping down from a job it is quite common for people to say they are doing so in order to spend more time with their family. Unusually I am departing from the Great British Bake Off so I can spend more time with my other work,” Toksvig said at the time — joking, “As my waistline will testify, Bake Off is an all consuming show.”
“Spending time with Prue, Paul, and Noel has been one of the great pleasures of my life,” Toksvig continued. “These are friendships which I know will continue beyond the confines of television.”
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Matt Lucas in Bridesmaids (2011)
RELATED: The Great British Baking Show: Every Burning Question, Answered
This isn’t the first time The Great British Baking Show has seen a change. The show, which has aired for 10 seasons and connected with U.S. audiences via Netflix, was originally presented by Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc, with Hollywood joined by judge Mary Berry.
Perkins, Giedroyc and Berry all left the show in 2016, during a network shift in the U.K.
“Bake Off is a wonderful program which has already proved it can happily withstand a change of hosting personnel,” Toksvig wrote in her statement. “The reason for that, of course, is that the true stars of the show are the bakers themselves. I wish everyone well.”
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