Brainywap: The £75million high flying producer couple behind GBBO's runaway success 'secretly split up more than a year ago'

Thursday, 15 September 2016

The £75million high flying producer couple behind GBBO's runaway success 'secretly split up more than a year ago'

The millionaire married couple behind The Great British Bake Off split up more than a year ago, it has been revealed.

Richard McKerrow and Anna Beattie, the co-creators of the popular baking show, made headlines this week when they decided to move the show from the BBC to Channel 4 as part of a £25million deal.

But it has now emerged that the enterprising husband-and-wife duo - whose credits also include the controversial series Benefits Street - separated more than a year ago.

Richard McKerrow and Anna Beattie separated more than a year ago. However they are believed to still live together with their children in a £3.5m six-bed house in south London

However, the couple are believed to still live together, along with their three children, in a £3.5million six-bed house in upmarket Clapham, south London.

The Sun reports the pair split some time ago.

A source told the paper: 'Richard and Anna split quietly more than a year ago.

'However the split was amicable and they have carried on working together.'

The source added that the business has not be affected by the split.

MailOnline has contacted the couple about the claims.

The creators (right and fourth from right) are pictured with the presenters and experts including Mel Giedroyc, Paul Hollywood, Sue Perkins, Mary Berry at the 2013 Bafta awards

The couple live in a £3.5m house in Clapham, south London (pictured), with their children

They first came up with the Great British Bake Off format in 2006, years after they met on the cutting room of Grand Designs.

But it was another four years before the show - inspired by the village fetes which Anna enjoys - was commissioned by the BBC.

Now, six years on, after the show's unprecedented ratings success their company has just secured a new GBBO deal with Channel 4 for a reported £25m per year.

The eye-watering sum will see the baking show on television screens across the country for at least another three years, while ensuring £75m in revenue for the company, Love Productions.

Anna Beattie looked downcast as she left the house in South-West London

McKerrow was pictured leaving his home in Clapham earlier this week

And in a sign of how far the company has come, Love Productions last year sold a 70 per cent share to Sky for an undisclosed sum, with the broadcaster praising its 'proven track record of award-winning, ground-breaking programmes.'

Richard, an ex-journalist educated at prestigious Wellington College in Berkshire, began his career as a print journalist for the Nation magazine in New York, where he worked with Christopher Hitchens and interned alongside Ed Miliband.