7 reasons The Great British Bake Off is already better on Channel 4

It's finally happened: The Great British Bake Off has launched its new era on Channel 4 – and, we'll admit it, the knives were out and ready.

But in fact, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the nu-Bake Off hadn't become a total catastrophe. In fact, it may even (whisper it now) be better.

OK, we're judging this on just one episode. And that weird hot air balloon intro was not a great start. But here are few reasons why Bake Off could be better than ever in its new home…

1. Noel and Sandi's "BAAAAKE!" is nowhere near as annoying

Simple things first. It's clear Mel and Sue were NOT fans of the "On your marks, get set..." intro to each challenge, which is exactly why they hammed it up to 11 each and every time.

That said, Sue's insistence on yelling 'BAAAAAKE!' in increasingly ridiculous ways got incredibly grating over the years, and the relaxing of this almost seems to set the stall out for the reinvigorated show – it's the same, but just a little bit fresher.

After the first episode, Noel's take on the catchphrase – if we can call it that – was far more relaxed, though we'll be watching to see if it gets more ludicrous as the series rolls on.

2. The talent levels are seriously high

You've always needed to know your stuff to get into the Bake Off tent, no doubt. But this year in particular, it feels as though the bar has been significantly raised right from the off. No messing.

The 'illusion cake' task felt like something that should have been in the finale, not in week one. And the majority of the cakes in that task were simply stunning. From Flo's watermelon, to Liam's pancakes, to Steven's sandwich, just incredible.

If this is just week one, what have we got in store in weeks to come? Feels like Bake Off: The Professionals.

3. Sandi has everything we loved about Mel and Sue

If you're missing Mel and Sue, then at least we're now in the highly capable hands of Sandi Toksvig, packing the same kind of friendly but cheeky humour of the former Bake Off duo, and she's just as smart and talented. Anyone who has watched her on QI or tuned in during her decades on the radio will already know how effortless she makes this all look.

Related: Meet the Great British Bake Off 2017 contestants

So far, it seems like the unlikely-on-paper duo of Sandi and Noel works really well. They both provide something new, yet there's enough that's familiar about the humour to maintain that traditional Bake Off feel.

4. The adverts actually add tension – and allow you to do other things

Sure, it's hard to fight the corner of commercials, and the sheer amount of them. But at least on Bake Off they occur at moments that make sense. They are edited in at natural points at the end of challenges, rather than slap bang in the middle of the programme, like other shows do (we're looking at you, Dermot 'We'll find out after the break' O'Leary).

But if you're watching live and/or don't have pause/fast-forward abilities, the ads give you the perfect opportunity to do other things. Like tweeting about the fact that you're annoyed that there's ads. Or just tweeting about the show in general without missing anything.

And all those of cakes and biscuits surely make you hungry, right? Use the ads to grab a cheeky Angel Slice and a cup of tea and you'll be golden.

Plus, the adverts simply add an extra level of tension to the whole thing. Just witnessed a nerve-wracking showstopper round? Here's another ad break to ponder who the hell's going home, with the last thing you see being the contestants waiting patiently, too – a stressful kind of synergy.

5. Noel Fielding is being himself – and it works

Eyebrows were raised when Noel was announced as one of the co-hosts – not us, mind – and in fairness, he's still best known either as an out-there stand-up comedian or for playing offbeat characters in shows like The Mighty Boosh or The IT Crowd.

But whenever we've seen Noel step away from his studied persona on shows like Taskmaster or The Big Fat Quiz of the Year, he's proven to be a self-deprecating, relaxed and genuinely funny bloke. And so far that's exactly what we've got here.

Related: Great British Bake Off 2017 – Everything you need to know

On Bake Off, he's able to drop the affected personae and be more like himself – and he comes across as warm and likeable, and just the kind of presence that the bakers need in stressful situations. As Noel and Sandi are their own people, and not a double act, it also allows them to establish themselves separately.

Could the greatest trick Noel Fielding ever pulled be to stop trying so hard to be intentionally zany and just be himself?

6. No dull baking history crowbarred in

So even the Beeb and its public-service mandate doesn't usually do this so early in the series, but it's already been rather refreshing to not have to wade through the strange edutainment pieces on Pontefract cake that used to be seemingly beamed in from another show.

While interesting in their own right, these narrated time-wasters tended to crop up late in the series on the BBC when there were fewer contestants to take up screen time, becoming both jarring and pace-sapping, like piping in Desert Island Discs over an episode of X Factor. We've got our fingers crossed that with ads to squeeze in now, filler will be a thing of the past.

7. It's turned Paul Hollywood into the Syco he's always been

Hard to believe after just one very decent episode but remember that everyone officially lost their minds when not just Mel, not just Sue, but Queen Mary too all chose not to renew and left the supposedly money-grabbing Paul doing the long walk to Channel 4 on his own. All this has played out perfectly, though, as he completes his full metamorphosis into the Simon Cowell of literal dough.

Prue Leith is an excellent Mary Berry cover, full of knowledge and authority; Sandi is effectively Mel and Sue's softly funny routine in one person; and then there's Noel. But at the centre of it all, growing in confidence and importance, is the man Hollywood.

As we've already said, GBBO fans threw Paul under the bus in the aftermath of what was – when you remove that in-built sympathy for the Beeb – just a production company renegotiating a contract. However, what many in the nicey-nicey House of Bake Off didn't bank on was Paul's role as the arse that everyone likes being the TRULY non-expendable one. Dragons and X Factor judges come and go, after all, but Peter Jones and Simon Cowell are still there. Hollywood is becoming just as important.

The Great British Bake Off continues next Tuesday at 8pm on Channel 4.

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