Campaign to save The Great British Sewing Bee tops 25,000 signatures
Drive to get another series of the show gains ground following RadioTimes.com revelation that its future on the BBC is in doubt
The campaign to persuade the BBC to commission another series of The Great British Sewing Bee has now topped 25,000 signatures.
The Change.Org petition which was launched following RadioTimes.com’s revelation that the future of the show was in jeopardy, said it is aiming to “convince the BBC that this brilliant show should be recommissioned”.
Earlier this month we revealed that the show looks unlikely to return with BBC executives thought to be keen to make a clean break from the “Great British…” franchise after the independent production company Love Productions decided to sell the next series of The Great British Bake Off to Channel 4.
Although the decision over Sewing Bee has not yet been formally rubber-stamped, neither Love nor the BBC have been able to give clarity on the future of the show with both parties continuing to maintain that a decision has not yet been reached. Question marks also remain over The Great Pottery Throwdown and Bake Off spin-off Crème de la Crème which features professional pastry chefs.
So far four series of The Great British Sewing Bee have aired. The last run aired last summer and saw north Londoner Charlotte Newland crowned champion. Auditions for contestants to appear on the 2016 series were held the previous September.
Love sources have confirmed that no Sewing Bee auditions have so far been held for a series in 2017.
When asked about the future of the show at the Radio Times Covers Party in January, presenter Claudia Winkleman - who works with judges Patrick Grant and Esme Young – said: “I would love to see it back I just…don’t know. I can’t speak about it. Something bad will happen."
Asked if it could move to another channel, she said: “I don’t know the answer to any of those questions. I am only employed because I am obedient. I will turn up, paint myself bright orange and read out loud. I don’t know.”
