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If you watched the finale of The Great British Baking Show all the way through, you might have noticed the poignant note it ended on. After crowning this year’s champion and catching up with our beloved bakers, the show took a moment to honor a dear colleague who had passed away. The closing scene featured a black screen with a photo of a man, alongside the tribute: “In Loving Memory of Dan Blackman, 1974 to 2025.”
This is not the first time The Great British Baking Show has honored a departed crew member. In 2022, the series dedicated its Season 10 premiere to Chloe Avery, who served as a food producer. Though she was not a contestant, Chloe played a crucial role in crafting the challenges and ensuring the bakers had everything they needed for their culinary feats.
But who was Dan Blackman? Why was he significant to The Great British Baking Show? And what other projects did he influence throughout his career? Here’s what we know about Dan Blackman and his impact on the beloved series and beyond.
The Great British Baking Show: Who was Dan Blackman?
Dan Blackman was a veteran editor for The Great British Baking Show and contributed to many other cherished British television programs. According to Digital Spy, he was born in the Cheshire region and pursued his studies in History and Politics at the University of West England in Bristol.
Blackman spent 13 years with the BBC, where he worked on acclaimed non-fiction series such as Planet Earth: The Future and Timeshift. In 2011, he embarked on a freelance career, bringing his editing expertise to a broader array of projects.
Blackman’s IMDB page is full of just the coziest British TV titles, including Autumnwatch, Winterwatch, and Springwatch. In 2018, he began working on The Great British Baking Show (known as The Great British Bake Off overseas). He worked on editing footage from the tent for a good five years, making time to also edit episodes of Nadiya Hussain‘s Nadiya’s Everyday Baking and Changing Rooms.
Blackman eventually left The Great British Baking Show to work on another of our favorite Love Productions shows, The Great Pottery Throw Down. Based on public posts, like Julia Foot (@joolsfoot), Blackman was well-liked and respected by his peers in British broadcasting. Foot specifically described him as a “gentle, intelligent man and a really good editor.”
Dan Blackman was remembered by friends and family with both a September funeral service in the Cheshire area and a memorial held in Bristol in mid October. Blackman was 51 years old when he passed.