The Darkness plan festive fun on The Great British Bake Off Christmas special

(Image credit: Simon Emmett)

The Darkness will perform their festive hit Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End) on The Great British Bake Off on Christmas Day, the band have confirmed.

The one-off edition of the show is titled The Great Festive Bake Off, and will see four bakers put through their paces in front of Paul Hollywood, Prue Leith, Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig.

The Darkness will also be in the tent, ready to light things up in style by playing their 2003 hit, with the show set to air in the UK on Channel 4 on Christmas Day at 8pm, with a repeat on New Year's Day at 7:40pm.

To mark the announcement, The Darkness have released a live stream of the track, which has been lifted from their album Live At Hammersmith, which launched earlier this year.

Frontman Justin Hawkins says: “As Santa prepares to empty his sack into our collective Christmas chimney, and young faces smeared with festive brandy butter gaze up expectantly, every day is a fun-filled festive frolic of presents and pies.

“Much as you will enjoy your turkey leftovers on Boxing Day, we are serving up Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End) again, this time in a tasty live sauce. Hooray, eh? A rocking good Christmas to one and all!”

It also looks as if 2019 will be a busy year for The Darkness. Not only are they headlining the Ramblin’ Man Fair on July 19, but they are due to enter the studio to begin work on the follow-up to 2017’s Pinewood Smile.

Scott has spent 37 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, highlights deals, and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 12 years, Scott has written more than 11,500 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from news and features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.