A brand-new line up has been announced for Junior Bake Off.

Comedian, author and lover of big shirt collars, Harry Hill, will host the new 15-part series. 

Joining Hill will be judges Prue Leith, currently a judge on The Great British Bake Off, and Bake Off alumni Liam Charles, fresh from hosting Bake Off: The Professionals.

Hill is no stranger to the pressures of the tent, having appeared on the Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer in 2018.

He famously made a 3D biscuit scene entitled “The day I went on holiday with Camilla Parker Bowles”.

Harry Hill said: “I’m very excited to be going back in the tent and breathing the cake fumes – I know a certain Duchess will be looking on, brimming with pride!”

Forty of the country’s best bakers aged between 9 and 15 years old will enter the tent to put their skills to the test.

In each of the ten heats, the bakers will face a technical bake and a showstopper, with four places up for grabs in the grand final.

The Bafta-winning series made by Love Productions will air on screens later this year.

 

In at the deep end 

Also announced this week is a new four-part reality series Sink or Swim, in support of Stand Up to Cancer.

With one in five British adults unable to swim, the series attempts to erase the stigma around non-swimmers. The series follows a cast of famous faces as they are put through their paces in the pool with gruelling training routines and challenges.

Ranging from complete non-swimmers, to those with a fear of open water, and those who now struggle for health reasons, participants include Olympic gold medallist Linford Christie and Coronation Street star Sair Khan.

The competitors will team up with a host of leading figures from the swimming world, who will transform them into top-notch swimmers, with each episode culminating in a punishing qualification swim.

The celebrities left standing at the end will take part in the ultimate challenge, as they attempt to swim the English Channel.

 

Court is now in session

Channel 4 has also joined forces with the nation’s favourite TV judge, for a new four-part series, The Rob Rinder Show.

Rinder, accompanied with celebrity guests, will give his no nonsense, uncompromising take on current news stories, viral trends, and plenty of other talking points.

With his famous wit, Rinder will dissect what is going on in the world today and search for the answers that will make Britain a better place.

 

Bringing up baby

Is there such a thing as the perfect parent? New five-part series Britain’s Best Parent? sets out to find the answer.

The show will bring together mothers and fathers who believe they have mastered parenting, from gender-neutral, to vegan; authoritarian, to off-grid.

Each episode will see three sets of parents attempt to prove their parenting techniques are best, by not only looking after their own children, but also looking after a child from the other two families.

At the end of each episode the families will come together with a studio audience, and the audience will vote for their preferred parenting style.

The final episode will see the winners come head to head to discover who will be crowned Britain’s best parent.

 

Liar, Liar 

A brand-new entertainment series, Pants on Fire, is ready to put bluffers to the ultimate test on E4.

The new nine-part series, hosted by Emma Willis, sees emerging new comedic talent battle it out to impress a celebrity jury with their bluffing skills.

In each show three teams of comics concoct the craziest stories and challenges, from swimming with sharks, to winning a pro-wresting battle royale.

The teams will have to present evidence to prove to both the celebrity jury, and the audience that they have completed the dare-devil challenges.

The celeb panel will try to make them crack, interrogating the teams to sort out fact from fiction.

 

Tennant drama

A new four-part drama series, Deadwater Fell, from writer Daisy Coulam, (Humans, Granchester) puts a small Scottish community under the microscope in the aftermath of a horrific crime.

When a seemingly perfect family are murdered by someone close to them, mistrust and suspicion seeps into the community, causing those closest to the family to question everything they thought they knew about their friends. 

The series stars David Tennant (Broadchurch) as Tom, a beloved local GP, doting father to three girls and husband to local teacher Kate, played by Anna Madeley (Patrick Melrose).

Kate’s best friend and fellow teacher Jess, played by Cush Jumbo, used to be an outsider until she settled down with local police sergeant Steve, played by Matthew McNulty (Versailles).

Both families are torn apart by the tragic incident and put everything on the line to get to the truth, no matter how difficult it may be to accept.

“Daisy Coulam has written something very special, chilling and fascinating with these scripts,” said David Tennant of his new project. 

The drama is directed by Lynsey Miller (The Boy with the Topknot) and produced by Kudos.

 

Time to champion diversity 

Channel 4 has announced the next iteration of their £1m Diversity in Advertising Award, which this year aims to tackle the lack of representation and stereotyping of those in the LGBT+ community.

The award offers £1m worth of commercial airtime to the winning creative idea, challenging brands and creative agencies to develop campaigns that put the LGBT+ community at the heart, without using stereotypes or portraying them in a negative light.

A study into diversity representation in TV ads by 4Sales found that people from the LGBT+ community only featured in 3% of the adverts in the survey, and were often portrayed as stereotypes, with lesbians portrayed as ‘butch’ and gay men as ‘camp’.

Four runners- up’s will get £250k worth of commercial time for their campaigns.       

Previous winners have focused on disability, mental health, and the portrayal of women in the media.

The closing date for written submission is 10 July.