'It's the most companionable group ever': GBBO host Sandy Toksvig reveals the new line-up 'laugh and cry' together... as she teases HUGE production

By MailOnline Reporter

Published: 21:05 EDT, 28 August 2017 | Updated: 16:27 EDT, 3 December 2017

It sent shock waves around the nation after it was announced Great British Bake Off was heading to Channel 4.

And while the country waits with baited breath to see if the show has kept its charm as it debuts on Tuesday, Sandy Toksvig has had some reassuring words to say about the new incarnation.

New host Sandy, 59, described her relationship with co-stars Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith and Noel Fielding as the most 'companionable' group she has ever known, and admitted that she and Noel were often overcome with emotion while filming scenes.

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Winning team: GBBO host Sandy Toksvig, 59, has described her relationship with co-stars Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith and Noel Fielding as the most 'companionable' group she's ever known

Winning team: GBBO host Sandy Toksvig, 59, has described her relationship with co-stars Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith and Noel Fielding as the most 'companionable' group she's ever known

In an interview with Good Housekeeping, Sandy described the on-set rapport the new gang developed as the most natural of her life.

She said: 'I cannot think of a time in my life when four people have been more companionable or at ease with each other.'

Describing life in between filming, she said: 'In our breaks, Noel and I and the two judges, Paul and Prue, are allowed to sit in the library lined with leather-bound books.

'We quickly fall into a routine. Paul has half an eye on some sport on the TV, Prue is writing another book, and Noel chats to me while I knit or, on the chillier days, take charge of the open fire.'

When the cameras stop rolling: 'In our breaks, Noel and I and the two judges, Paul and Prue, are allowed to sit in the library lined with leather-bound books' she revealed

When the cameras stop rolling: 'In our breaks, Noel and I and the two judges, Paul and Prue, are allowed to sit in the library lined with leather-bound books' she revealed

She then confessed to not being prepared for how emotional she would get during the tenser scenes.

Luckily she had Noel alongside her who was equally surprised at how drawn into the process and close to the contestants they would get.

'It seems ridiculous now, but neither Noel nor I had quite prepared ourselves for how involved we would get,' she said.

'We make one episode a week, so end up spending two and half months with some of the contestants. That is long enough to feel a real sense of kinship. We laugh and cry in equal measure.'

Nor were they prepared for how big and intense the production would be: 'I knew there would be cameras; I had no idea there would be so many.'

Revealing just the scale of the show, she said:  'I knew there would be producers: again, it was the numbers that bowled me over. There are cameras everywhere, sound operators, eagle-eyed producers, home economists fetching ingredients, runners running with all manner of things, make-up, wardrobe… I've seen buy TV sets before, but nothing like this.' 

Read the full article in the October 2017 issue of Good Housekeeping, on sale 30th August

Rooting for the contestants: Sandy confessed to not being prepared for how emotional she would get during the tenser scenes - luckily she had Noel alongside her who was equally surprised at how involved he would get

Rooting for the contestants: Sandy confessed to not being prepared for how emotional she would get during the tenser scenes - luckily she had Noel alongside her who was equally surprised at how involved he would get

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