Love Productions

Love Productions Limited
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryTelevision production
Founded3 September 2004; 20 years ago (2004-09-03) in United Kingdom
Founders
  • Richard McKerrow
  • Anna Beattie
Headquarters
London
,
England
Number of locations
3
Products
Parent
Websiteloveproductions.co.uk
Footnotes / references
[1]

Love Productions Limited is a UK-based television production company. Its cooking competition series The Great British Bake Off is among the most watched shows in the UK of its era.[2]

History

Richard McKerrow and Anna Beattie formed Love Productions in 2004.[1] In 2014, Sky acquired a 70% stake in Love Productions.[3] In 2020, Sky bought the remaining shares making the studio a wholly owned subsidiary, seemingly part of a strategy to build a production empire.[4] The acquisition came on the back of increased dividends for Sky 2019 of £22.7 million compared with £3.5 million in 2018; while two directors received £4.6 million in 2019, up from three directors receiving £1.4 million in 2018.[4]

In 2020, the company's key "Bake off" series of productions has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic which is likely to result in a loss of income in 2020/21.[4]

Love Productions is also associated with the brands Love West, based in Bristol, and Love Productions USA.[5]

Productions

The list of programmes produced by Love Productions include:

Title Genre Network(s) First broadcast
Cirque de Celebrité Game show Sky One 2006
The Baby Borrowers Reality television BBC Three 2007
The Great British Bake Off Baking BBC Two (2010–2013)
BBC One (2014–2016)
Channel 4 (2017–) 		2010
Tower Block of Commons Documentary Channel 4 2010
Junior Bake Off Baking CBBC (2011–2016)
Channel 4 (2019–) 		2011
Rich, Famous and in the Slums Factual BBC One 2011
Make Bradford British Documentary Channel 4 2012
The Great British Sewing Bee Sewing BBC Two (2013–2019)
BBC One (2020–) 		2013
Benefits Street Documentary Channel 4 2014
Famous, Rich and Hungry Factual BBC One 2014
The Great Pottery Throw Down Pottery BBC Two (2015–2017)
More4 (2020)
Channel 4 (2021–) 		2015
The Chronicles of Nadiya Documentary BBC One 2016
Battle of Britain: Model Squadron Structured reality Channel 4 2018
The Biggest Little Railway in the World Structured reality Channel 4 2018
Westside Reality television Netflix 2018
Singapore Social Docuseries Netflix 2019
The Piano Talent show Channel 4 2023

Controversies

Love Productions' best earning programme, The Great British Bake Off, had moved network channel from BBC Two to BBC One after three series due to its increasing popularity.[6] Towards the end of series six, Love Productions's profits were decreasing; the company wished to remain on BBC One, however the £75 million asking price for three series was unacceptable to the BBC.[7] Controversy arose as there were concerns the nature of the show would change with the move to Channel 4 and because most of the show's presenters did not make the move for the following series.[7][2]

References

  1. ^ a b "Bristol's Love Productions, firm behind The Great British Bake-off, strikes multi-million Sky deal". SouthWestBusiness. 22 July 2014. Archived from the original on 10 February 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Great British Bake Off final was the UK's most watched TV show since 2012". 7 November 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  3. ^ "Sky buys 70% stake in Bake Off and Benefits Street firm". BBC News. 21 July 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  4. ^ a b c Kanter, Jake (7 July 2020). "Sky Takes Full Control Of 'The Great British Bake Off' Maker Love Productions". Deadline. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  5. ^ ""Contact Us"". Love Productions. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  6. ^ Sweney, Mark (16 October 2013). "BBC2 controller laments losing the Great British Bake Off to BBC1". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  7. ^ a b Steafel, Elanor (4 August 2017). "5 things we learnt from the new Great British Bake Off trailer". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 9 February 2017.