THE Great British Bake Off rose to the occasion, pulling in almost eight million viewers for its first episode since moving to a primetime slot on BBC1.

The culinary TV hit, with judges Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood, was watched by 7.9 million viewers at its peak.

That compares to the 6.3 million who tuned in to the first episode last year on BBC2. The show was watched by 2 million when it launched in 2010.