The Great British Bake Off reaches record audience

The final of The Great British Bake Off, gave the show its highest overnight audience ever.

An average of 14 million people tuned in to BBC One to watch Candice Brown be crowned the winner.

Told about the ratings by BBC News, Brown said "that sounds amazing... I think it was a really good episode."

Speaking about the next season of the show, which will air on Channel 4, Brown said: "I can't wait for the next series to see what they do with it."

Wednesday evening's finale episode peaked just before 21:00 BST, when Brown was revealed as the winner, with 14.8 million viewers.

The figures indicate more viewers watched this year's final than 2015's, when an average of 13.4m saw Nadiya Hussain win the series.

However, the total number of viewers that saw last year's final rose to just over 15 million when those watching on catch-up services were included.

This year's final consolidated figure won't be available till early November.

Two Christmas specials of the show will be broadcast in December, before the programme moves to Channel 4.

Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins, known as Mel & Sue, announced they would stand down after the move to the channel was announced.

Judge Mary Berry also quit the show soon after, but Paul Hollywood said he would stay with the show.

The current series has dominated TV ratings, with the show occupying every place in the top five most watched programmes of the year so far.

Speaking about her win, Brown said: "It hasn't sunk in at all and I'm not sure when it will do, it's just crazy but amazing.

"It means more to me than I think anyone will ever realise, but it will enable me to do what I want to do, which is bake all the time. I love it, I really love it."

Charlotte Moore, director of BBC Content, said: "BBC One brought over half of the British viewing public together to watch the final of The Great British Bake Off, delivering the highest ever ratings."

She also congratulated the Bake Off team and thanked the "loyal fans over the last seven series".

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