Beauty and the Baker


The Beauty and the Baker is an Israeli romantic-comedy TV series that follows the impossible love story between a simple baker and an international supermodel. It ranks as one of the highest-rated scripted series ever in Israel. The second season premiered on May 9, 2017. The series takes a comical approach to Jewish ethnic divisions in Israel by exploring the relationship between a privileged Ashkenazi woman and her working-class Yemenite love interest.

Plot summary

The worlds of the model and heiress Noa Hollander and the baker Amos Dahari collide when they meet on a night out in Tel Aviv. In season one, they face challenges to staying together as Noa's ruthless agent Tzvika and Amos' ex-girlfriend Vanessa conspire to break the couple up. In season two, further impediments to their happiness are created by Noa's father and his scheming assistant, Eden.

Cast

The series has been well-received by critics. Haaretz newspaper described it as "a great series" and that the "secret of the charm lies in the genre. For years the Israeli comedy drama has insisted on reinventing the wheel each time, it’s the genre most lacking in Israeli culture throughout the generations." In the United Kingdom where the series is broadcast on Channel 4, The Daily Telegraph praised the series, writing that "aside from being a hugely entertaining, frivolous romantic comedy on the surface, the show has a grittier side which will appeal to a British audience." Walter Iuzzolino acquired the series for Walter Presents, a Channel 4 streaming service of foreign language TV drama and comedy. Iuzzolino spoke about the series to The Jewish Chronicle, "On the one hand, it's a shamelessly commercial piece, with all the classic ingredients of a typical love story. However, I think there's an honesty about it which really resonated with me. The underlying themes are sophisticated, particularly regarding the notion of family. She lives in a vacuum of no relations and he lives surrounded by these noisy Sicilian types who I love! To me, it painted the portrait of a community and bonds that are really lovely. I think it gives the series a lot of ."

Production and broadcast history

The series was created by Assi Azar, who had Bar Refaeli in mind for the lead role. Rotem Sela took the role when Refaeli pulled out.

English subtitled version

An English subtitled version was released online on the Channel 4 website. On June 20, 2017 Amazon acquired global rights of the first two seasons of the show and streams them worldwide on Amazon Prime Video, but not in the UK.

Adaptations

On April 7, 2015 a Dutch adaptation premiered on Net 5 in The Netherlands. The show was called Bagels & Bubbels: zij hoort bij mij and starred Bracha van Doesburgh as the supermodel Noa Hollander and Egbert Jan Weeber as baker Rick van Langeveld. The show was cancelled after one season and eight episodes.
In November 2018, it was announced that an American adaptation of the series was being developed by Dean Georgaris and David Frankel through Keshet Studios and Universal Television for ABC. Georgaris and Frankel are set to write and direct, respectively, and both will executive produce alongside Avi Nir, Alon Shtruzman, Peter Traugott, and Rachel Kaplan. In January 2019 ABC ordered the adaptation to pilot. On May 11, 2019, ABC ordered the American titled The Baker and the Beauty to series for the 2019-2020 television season. The series premiered on April 13, 2020, and lasted a single season of nine episodes ending that June.