Bake Off’s Prue Leith Makes Honest Retirement Amid Big Fear | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV

On December 25, 2024By Littum

Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith has openly expressed her worries about retirement despite her thriving TV career.

The 84-year-old culinary expert, who stepped into Mary Berry’s shoes on the iconic baking show when it moved to Channel 4 in 2017, is considering the inevitable end of her TV journey.

Prue says she’s told her husband and adviser, John Playfair, to let her know when it’s finally time to stop and hang up the apron.

In an interview with US Weekly, Prue admitted her worries about age and job security, saying: “I’m going to have to retire soon because I wouldn’t be able to do it forever – but I want to get out before I is pushed.

“I don’t want to get to the stage where (producers) suddenly, politely, say ‘Prue, it’s been 10 years, I really think we should think about a change’. I don’t want to have that conversation.”

Heading towards her 85th birthday, Prue, who will grace our screens again with The Great Christmas Bake Off tonight, shows no immediate signs of slowing down. When asked about retirement plans, she replied: “I don’t, I love doing it.”

Despite her firm intention to keep going, Prue admits there is a worry in the back of her mind about running out of time to achieve everything she wants in life.

In her 2022 memoir, I’ll Try Anything Once, Dame Prue expressed her concerns and revealed her desire to turn her trilogy of books into a television series. Nevertheless, she recognizes the need to “move on” to achieve this ambition.

Describing her fear of time slipping away, Prue wrote: “My biggest worry is not having enough life left to live. I feel as energetic and enthusiastic, or almost, as I ever have, but of course it can not hold.”

Dame Prue is set to reappear on The Great Christmas Bake Off alongside familiar faces Paul, Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond, with contestants including EastEnders’ Natalie Cassidy and Dean Gaffney, Coronation Street’s Shobna Gulati and Emmerdale’s Chris Bisson and Sheree Murphy.