'Handmade: Britain’s Best Woodworker' Heading To Discovery+

In another move that takes Discovery+ one step closer to being a service anglophiles need to add to their lineup, the streamer has snapped up the North American rights to Channel 4's newest reality series hit, Handmade: Britain's Best Woodworker. The series, from Plimsoll Productions (best known for Hostile Planet), launched on Channel 4 back in October 2021 and was an instant hit. Channel 4 claims it drew in the most significant debut audience in four years to the network, partially due to the not-exactly-a-Great British Baking Show clone being hosted by one of GBBO's original and beloved hosts, Mel Giedroyc.

The series also stars British architect Alex de Rijke and London-based West-end/Broadway performer Helen Welch as judges. The first series brought nine amateur carpenters to an open-air woodworking space on the edge of a forest to show off and challenge these crafting enthusiasts to create ambitious builds. The series is a little more in The Great Pottery Throwdown vein in that it is only two challenges an episode, centered around a "Big Build" turned in at the end of the hour for judging, rather than GBBO's usual three. Giedroyc also noted that, unlike GBBO, which pre-pandemic filmed on weekends so bakers could go home and rest and practice between rounds, this series does not take breaks between filming episodes.

The series was such a hit that Channel 4 has made the rare move to greenlight two seasons to follow, in 2022 and 2023, a move that was, up until now, reserved only for flagship series GBBO. But Plimsoll is already eyeing the success to move the series to other countries, franchising it the same way Love Productions did with The Great Australian Bake Off, The Great Canadian Bake Off, and the (failed) Great American Baking Show.