BBC Breakfast

God not Ben Brown. I'd be happy with either Simons, though. I'd also like to see how Nicholas Owen was on the sofa - but that'll probably never happen.

I hope its not Ben either, Simon was good when he presented a few years ago!

Yep I'll second that.

Don't rate Ben at all- Simon is good fun on N24 in the mornings though.

Turnbull & Williams are fine as main presenters. I only used to switch on the TV early at weekends to catch the banter between those two, even though the programme had quite a different format in N8.

Charlie Stayt seems nice enough as a weekend presenter. I just hope they don't bring in the guy from "The World Today" (can't remember his name - and don't want to) who obviously needs a neck-brace to stop his top three vertebrae allowing his head to behave like a "nodding dog" on the parcel shelf of a car.

Sounds like Jonathan Charles to me...!

Yes, that's the man! I can't watch him because I find myself grinding my teeth at his head movements.

I think overall Breakfast is above GMTV albeit not by a lot. The ratings thread put Breakfast at 1.1m with GMTV at 1m, the difference of 4% audience share. Considering that GMTV always used to be way ahead of Breakfast they must be doing something right, it just so happens that the lighter consumer affairs appear to be more popular and thus are used more and more.

I think that's the case. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, I'd constantly disagree with my Mum over which programme to watch at breakfast. I'd want the BBC and Mum always wanted GMTV. It's ironic, then, that my Mum now chooses Breakfast over GMTV every day. She's not a 'hard news' fan by any means so it must have become more like GMTV over the past couple of years. In the Jeremy/Sophie era and before it was very much more centred around news.

But should it be BBC News who is producing this? I think not. It does huge damage to their reputation.

I completely agree. I think they're the best pairing Breakfast has had for many years, so why would they be looking for a different replacement for Dermot?

Bill may not have quite the same 'menopausal houswife heart-throb' appeal as Dermot, but I can't see someone like Simon Mayo ticking that box. Without wanting to be nasty, his face has always seemed more suited to radio IMO.

Does it? Does it really?

I think not.

Well there are a LOT of people who'd disagree with you. The number of people who say BBC News has dumbed down is growing all the time, and covering Strictly Come Dancing on one of their main programmes can only prove them right.