'Bake Off' cooks up big ratings for BBC2

'The Great British Bake Off'LONDON -- It's been dubbed the most unlikely reality show ever, but a British baking contest is the surprise breakout hit of the U.K. TV fall season."The Great British Bake Off," produced by Love Prods., bowed last year on BBC2 with an average audience of 2.3 million.This figure more than doubled as the second season of "Bake Off" hit its stride in September and became BBC2's biggest show. By the time the series wrapped Oct. 4, an average of 4.56 million viewers (a 20 share) were tuning in, and the last 15 minutes of the final episode was watched by an audience of 5.1 million.The show pits 12 amateur bakers against each other in a weekly elimination contest to bake a cake, quiche or tart.Unlike more conventional reality fare like "The X Factor," there is little emphasis on the protagonists' emotional back stories.In other words, cooking rather than crying occupies stage center.The finished products are judged by septuagenarian U.K. food writer Mary Berry, who at 76 has published more than 70 books on cooking.Her homespun wisdom and warmth is about as far from Simon Cowell as it's possible to get."Whether it is baking a scone or a loaf of bread, 'Bake Off' is very much tied up with the idea of homeliness and cocooning," observes Janice Hadlow, head of BBC2, who sees the show as tapping in to cultural mores in the U.K. Casting for the third season is under way.Hadlow notes that auds are tuning in to brush up on their baking skills. "?'Bake Off' is nothing to do with lavish dinner parties or making an exquisite piece of patisserie. It is about the pleasure you can have in hard times. Baking at home is one way of having fun without spending a lot of money." The Independent's TV critic Tom Sutcliffe echoes Hadlow's assessment: "Yes, it's all about the technique that goes into the perfect biscotti and tense stand-off over ginger nut orthodoxy. But it's also about domestic affections: about recipes learned from much-loved grandmas and family favorites lovingly cooked for children."So could "The Great British Bake Off" emulate "MasterChef" and become an international hit with local versions rolled out globally? "The Great Barcelona Bake Off" anyone?Hadlow is skeptical. "I don't know if it would have the same cultural purchase in mainland Europe or the U.S." she says. "It taps into what baking means in the U.K. I am not sure baking has the same associations outside Britain." Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com