As Celebrity Great British Bake Offhits our screen this weekend, viewers will be wondering why Prue Leith isn’t judging the contestants alongside Paul Hollywood like usual.

The first episode of this year’s Stand Up To Cancer special will air on Sunday 16th and will include a host of stars such as presenters Amelia Dimoldenberg and Kate Garraway, as well as actor Jim Howick and comedian Adam Buxton. Noel Fielding and Alison Hammond will be returning to host the show, and Paul will be ready to offer his signature handshake to the celebrity bakers. However, Prue will not be in the tent this year.

Last year, it was revealed that Prue, 84, had chosen to focus on the regular series and would therefore be stepping away from the special editions of Bake Off. She will be replaced by Caroline Waldegrave OBE - one of her close friends.

She confirmed in an interview with last year that she would not be leaving the show for good, but simply found it difficult to keep up with the challenging schedule and would therefore be stepping away from hosting the celebrity version.

She explained: “These things are filmed back-to-back all the way through summer from April to August so you don’t get any time off. I’m getting quite old and there’s places I want to see. So I’m not doing this year’s.”