Journalist takes ‘irresistible’ chance to take part in show while still working as Channel 4 newsreader
Krishnan Guru-Murthy has been announced as the fourth celebrity to join this year’s Strictly Come Dancing.
The journalist, who is a main presenter on Channel 4 News, joins a lineup that includes Angela Rippon, the actor Amanda Abbington and the Bad Education star Layton Williams.
Continue reading...Ex-newsreader famous for dancing on 1976 Morecambe and Wise show will be joined by Amanda Abbington and Layton Williams
Angela Rippon is to compete in the upcoming season of Strictly Come Dancing becoming the oldest competitor on the BBC primetime show at the age of 79.
The actor Amanda Abbington and Bad Education star Layton Williams have also been announced as the first contestants for the 21st series of the dancing competition this autumn.
Continue reading...Two demonstrators removed almost immediately after sounding air horns and throwing confetti on the stage
Two Just Stop Oil protesters disrupted the opening night of the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall after running on to the stage, setting off confetti cannon and sounding air horns.
The pair were taken off stage at the west London venue within moments of unfurling their orange banners on Friday evening, according to footage on social media.
Continue reading...Scandal over male presenter could define Tim Davie’s tenure and set future direction of the corporation
Tim Davie is facing possibly the biggest crisis of his crisis-strewn stint as the BBC’s director general after one of the corporation’s prominent male television presenters was suspended.
How Davie handles the crisis – and whether he survives it – could define his tenure at the helm of the broadcaster and shape the BBC’s future.
Continue reading...British broadcaster says it will continue to provide impartial news after being accused by Bashar al-Assad’s government of politicised coverage
Syria’s information ministry says it has cancelled the accreditation of two local journalists working for the BBC, accusing the British broadcaster of “false” and “politicised” coverage.
The accreditations of an unidentified correspondent and a camera operator had been revoked following “subjective and false information and reports” on Syria, the ministry said on its website on Saturday. It described other BBC reports as “politicised”.
Continue reading...‘Regressive’ licence fee could be replaced by a broadband tax or a levy based on property value, says Richard Sharp
The former BBC chair Richard Sharp has suggested that wealthier families may have to pay more to access the corporation’s services.
The “regressive” licence fee system could be replaced by a tax on broadband bills or a household levy based on property value, Richard Sharp told the Daily Telegraph’s Chopper’s Politics podcast.
Continue reading...Writer of comic medical memoir This is Going to Hurt reveals surrogacy on BBC’s Desert Island Discs
Adam Kay, the author of This is Going to Hurt, the bestselling “secret diary” of a junior doctor, is now the father of two babies, he has revealed.
Kay, who was portrayed by Ben Whishaw in the Bafta-winning BBC1 adaptation of his comic memoir, said life with his husband, TV producer James Farrell, has been “absolutely transformed for the better” by the arrival through surrogacy of their two children.
Continue reading...Hack attributed to criminal gang hit MOVEit software used by third-party payroll provider Zellis
British Airways, Boots and the BBC are investigating the potential theft of personal details of staff after the companies were hit by a cyber-attack attributed to a Russia-linked criminal gang.
BA confirmed it was one of the companies affected by the hack, which targeted software called MOVEit used by Zellis, a payroll provider.
Continue reading...The broadcaster left Radio 4’s Saturday Live in March after 12 years
The Rev Richard Coles has said he “felt rather hurtled towards the exit” after leaving the BBC this year.
The broadcaster, 61, stepped down from his Radio 4 programme Saturday Live in March after 12 years.
Continue reading...Former Newsnight presenter, 73, will end stint as longest serving current quizmaster on British television
Jeremy Paxman’s stint as the longest serving current quizmaster on British television will come to an end on Monday night when he presents his final edition of University Challenge.
The 73-year-old former Newsnight presenter is bowing out from the show after revealing he has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
Continue reading...Australian-born artist and musician was jailed for sexual assaults on children after a 50-year career as one of Britain’s best-known TV performers
The entertainer Rolf Harris, whose career as one of the best-loved performers on British TV ended in the disgrace of convictions for indecent assault on teenage girls, has died aged 93.
In October 2022, it was reported that Harris had neck cancer and was barely able to speak. His death was confirmed by a registrar at Maidenhead town hall, close to his family home in the Berkshire village of Bray.
Continue reading...Documentary questioned Indian prime minister’s leadership during 2002 Gujarat riots
The high court in Delhi has issued a summons to the BBC in a defamation case over a documentary on the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, that questioned his leadership during the 2002 Gujarat riots, according to reports in Indian media.
The defamation suit states that the documentary India: The Modi Question, which aired earlier this year, cast a slur on India’s reputation and that of its judiciary and the prime minister, the reports said.
Continue reading...BBC claims online listening increase offsets live decline, while Rajar figures show Greatest Hits and LBC gaining audience
Radio 4’s Today Programme has lost 800,000 listeners in the past year as they switched to podcasts and rival talk radio shows.
The agenda-setting breakfast discussion programme has been trying to reinvent itself in recent months, adopting a more informal tone for parts of the show. It has also had to deal with Rishi Sunak’s government cutting access to government ministers as part of a deliberate communication strategy.
Continue reading...The actor, now recovered, tells BBC’s Desert Island Discs he became ‘very sneaky’ about his drinking in the early 2000s
Simon Pegg faced his own mission impossible, tackling both his addiction and eventual recovery, while working on the major Hollywood film franchise alongside Tom Cruise, he will explain in a revealing radio interview on Sunday morning.
Speaking of a secret reliance upon alcohol that he hid while working on film sets in the early 2000s, Pegg admits: “You become very sneaky when you have something like that in your life.”
Continue reading...Cybersecurity experts drafted in to help thwart any sabotage attempt as UK stands in as host for Ukraine
The risk of a cyber-attack by pro-Russian hackers is the “main worry” for broadcasters staging the Eurovision song contest on behalf of war-torn Ukraine, a BBC executive has said.
Experts from the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre have been drafted in to help thwart any attempts to sabotage the competition’s public vote on Saturday.
Continue reading...Re-edited version omits opening scene after claims of fatphobia and replaces original on ABC and BBC platforms
The ABC has removed part of a Bluey episode that sparked accusations of fat-shaming and fatphobia.
It has now republished a version of the popular cartoon without a bathroom scene that showed Bluey’s parents complaining about their weight.
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Continue reading...Opposition leader says party would change current system, in which PM has final say on who gets job
Keir Starmer has said Labour would make sure the BBC chair is independently appointed after Richard Sharp’s resignation following his failure to declare that he had helped Boris Johnson get a loan.
The Labour leader suggested the party would reform the system, in which the prime minister currently has the final say on who gets the job.
Continue reading...PM has been accused of defending his former boss, but affair offers chance to put his own stamp on the corporation
Rishi Sunak used to work for Richard Sharp at Goldman Sachs. He brought him into government as an adviser during the pandemic. And on Friday he formally accepted his resignation as BBC chair.
Given the pair’s long relationship, Sharp’s resignation after failing to declare his role in facilitating an £800,000 loan for the former prime minister Boris Johnson might be expected to cause a political problem for the prime minister.
Continue reading...Conservative party accused of undermining broadcaster by flooding it with cronies after chair’s resignation
Rishi Sunak is under pressure to stop appointing Conservatives to key positions at the BBC after Richard Sharp’s resignation prompted criticism the party had undermined the broadcaster by flooding it with cronies.
Sharp quit as BBC chair on Friday morning after an investigation concluded he had failed to disclose key information about his relationship with the former prime minister Boris Johnson when applying for the job in 2021. Sharp helped facilitate an £800,000 loan guarantee for Johnson when he was in the running to take over the broadcaster but did not tell the appointments panel.
Continue reading...Report expected imminently will detail how Sharp came to be recommended for job by Boris Johnson
A potentially damning report on how Richard Sharp was recommended for the job of BBC chair by Boris Johnson is expected to be published on Friday morning.
Sources say the report, by the barrister Adam Heppinstall KC, could prove uncomfortable reading for Sharp.
Continue reading...