Great British Bake Off creators Richard McKerrow and wife Anna Beattie have raked in enough dough from the hit show to own two homes worth £6million
Married couple collected £1million in dividends and neighbours says they are a 'private' pair
THE married couple behind Bake Off have raked in enough from the show to own two homes worth £6million in total.
Creators Richard McKerrow, 52, and wife Anna Beattie, 48, set up Love Productions in 2004.
The couple – who met while working on the Channel 4 show Grand Designs - devised Bake Off after being inspired by a baking competition at a local fete.
It took them four years to sell in the idea to the BBC where it then took time to develop from a niche programme into a ratings winner and money making machine.
Sky Ventures bought 70 per cent last year but the couple still collected £1million in dividends.
Love turned over £23million in the 15 months up to last June.
Public schoolboy Richard is also director of a property company and is friends with Ed Miliband.
McKerrow is a journalist-turned-TV executive who was educated at fee-paying Wellington College.
A neighbour who lives near the couple’s £4million home in Clapham, South West London, said: “They are private people.”
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The hit show had originally been offered to Channel 4 before it ended up on BBC2, where it went on to be a huge success.
Earlier this year there was widespread speculation that ITV may get their hands on the lucrative show.
It is believed that the Beeb’s final offer of £15million a year was four times as much as it has been paying for the contract.
But that was topped by Channel 4’s offer of £25million – or £75million over three years.
Former BBC1 controller Lorraine Heggessey told : “In my day, there were often tough negotiations over programme budgets and budgets for talent but in the end there was an unwritten rule that you did not walk away and take your show somewhere else.”
But one huge problem for the show is how as a public service broadcaster, the Beeb could best exploit the show’s huge commercial spin-off potential.
Anna was pictured with 2015 winner Nadiya Hussain at the Baftas in May when the show picked up Best Feature award.
TV productions chief McKerrow – who calls his wife a ‘television genius’ - also commissioned the series Embarrassing Bodies.
Another of the couple’s shows is the notorious Benefits Street.
He once said in an interview: “We’ve never chased ratings, we chase brilliant ideas.
"You have to push boundaries, and that means you might do something that other people perceive as crossing a line."
And Great British Bake Off – which attracts 15 million viewers - has not been without controversy.
Some viewers complained about product placement over the prominence of Smeg fridges and there was tension over the show’s move to BBC1.
Love were only being paid around £3million a year, based on the original deal struck to show it on BBC2.
At the time McKerrow said: "If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, so my first instinct was, 'Why do we have to move to 1?'"