Former Great British Bake Off presenters Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc have admitted that running out of kitchen-based puns showed them it was time to move on from the show.

The much-loved BBC programme will be moving to Channel 4, without original hosts Mel, Sue and TV cook Mary Berry.

But while media reports have commented on their loyalty to the original programme, the pair revealed that they had started to run short of their famous quips.

Mel told the Daily Mail: “Seven years of making puns about cobs, baps, meringues… To be honest, we’d started to recycle some.”

Mel and Sue were known for their baking one-liners, including the not-so-savoury...
Mel and Sue were known for their baking one-liners, including the not-so-savoury… (Tom Graham.Love Productions/BBC/PA)

While they said they may not tune in to the next series when it broadcasts, they said they would feel a “nostalgic twinge” rather than bitterness about not being involved.

Describing their decision to leave as the right thing to do, they said: “We loved every minute, and it’s going to be sad not to be doing it but we’ve got amazing memories.”

After quitting their longest-running project as a duo, they said they hoped to enjoy their future projects just as much.

Mel and Sue will return to the BBC next month to present Let’s Sing And Dance For Comic Relief.

The TV competition will see celebrities dress up and perform familiar musical numbers, this year taking on the extra challenge of both singing and dancing.

It will launch live on BBC One on March 4 at 6.45pm and run for four weeks.