BBC presenter departures: worrying exodus or healthy refresh?

There’s been a lot of coverage of high-profile presenters leaving the BBC over the last couple of years, often with the word ‘exodus’ in the headline and the implication that the departures have a common cause.

However, like so many things in life, it’s not as simple as that. There are a number of different factors at play and it’s worth trying to unpick them before leaping to the conclusion that something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Firstly, the lists of names that gets trotted out with each new departure tends to include a jumble of people who are dropping presenting duties on a single show/network but continuing on other BBC shows/networks (e.g. Craig Charles), people who are retiring from broadcasting after decades of service (e.g. Sue Barker) along with those who are leaving the BBC entirely (although not necessarily forever) to pursue opportunities elsewhere.

It’s also a mix of those who proactively jumped, those who were unexpectedly pushed and those who anticipated a push and jumped preemptively.

Let’s start with proactive jumpers and with money.

Money

Salaries can clearly be a contributing factor in presenters deciding to leave the BBC, not only in terms of temptingly lucrative offers from outside the organisation but also in terms of the unwelcome attention their salary will likely receive every year if they stay on the BBC’s payroll (see Graham Norton). Attractive voluntary redundancy packages can be another financial factor at a time when the BBC is trying to reduce its headcount and wage bill (especially for its highest earners).

However, it’s rarely just about the money. The majority of departing BBC presenters could have been earning more in the commercial sector but have hitherto chosen to stay, often for many years, if not decades.

It’s normally money plus something else that tips the scales for the proactive jumpers.

Editorial freedom

One such factor, that it’s easy to infer may have tipped the scales for Emily Maitlis, is editorial freedom. Her MacTaggart Lecture made it clear how the rap on the knuckles she received for her infamous Dominic Cummings Newsnight intro left her feeling and it’s impossible to listen to the excellent The News Agents without hearing the team’s almost giddy delight at no longer having to follow the BBC’s impartiality guidelines.

Whilst Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode enjoyed a relatively high level of editorial freedom, Mayo has cited the “many BBC hoops to jump through” to get certain ideas to air as a factor in them taking their format to Sony subsidiary Somethin’ Else, alongside Sony’s offer to “invest in this programme in a way that it hasn’t been invested in so far”.

Of course, editorial freedom doesn’t come without trade-offs - typically a smaller audience (as few can match the scale of the BBC’s platform) and the financial necessity of advertising. In the podcasting space this tends to include host-read ads, which command a commercial premium but aren’t always a comfortable fit for the presenter or the perception of editorial autonomy.

It’s notable how many recent high-profile BBC departures have been to the world of podcasting (see below graphic), where editorial freedom tends to be higher and which continues to be an area of hopeful investment for established media players (e.g. Bauer, Global, News UK). It also offers comparatively low production costs for those setting up their post-BBC ventures without the patronage of an established player (e.g. Shaun Keaveny, Roger Bolton)

A snapshot of the recent BBC ‘talent exodus’ and where they’ve found their new homes

Ego / presenter chemistry

Whilst it never explicitly features in ‘why I left the BBC’ quotes from former presenters, ego is often a contributing factor in the jumper’s decision to walk jump, whether that’s the hit of being moved to a less prized schedule slot or a sense of being overlooked for more prestigious presenting gigs.

Being made to share a schedule slot (see Paul O’Grady) or a whole show with another presenter they don’t gel with, can also end up being the proverbial straw.

‘It’s time’

Amongst those who were pushed, the most common cause is a managerial desire to ‘freshen up’ the presenting line up of a show/network. Whilst it can be tempting to leap to accusations of ageism - sometimes with justification - I’m sympathetic to the challenge of evolving a presenting line up.

A significant portion of recent high-profile departures have been from BBC Radio 2, where the Head of Station (the lovely Helen Thomas), has the unenviable task of moving on presenters who would be unlikely to ever voluntarily hang up their headphones on the nation’s most popular radio station.

Breaking up is hard to do

Another point of difference amongst recent departures is the grace with which they handled their exit, ranging from respectful regret (see Roger Bolton, long-standing presenter of Radio 4’s Feedback) to the downright churlish (examples redacted).

Length of service is no doubt a factor here, although there’s also something about the unique relationship the British public (its presenters and other employees included) has with the BBC, which means the end of a professional engagement often ends up looking more like a messy relationship breakup and/or a release from prison (side note: the BBC shares the term ‘lifer’ with the prison service).

So, worrying exodus or healthy refresh? I’m more in the healthy refresh camp. Whilst the BBC isn’t short of existential threats, I don’t think the departure of some of its high-profile presenters is currently one of them.