BBC News: Presenters, correspondent & rotas

Christian Fraser.

I think if and when Huw and George plan to go, there wouldn’t really be “lead” presenters for a program. Of course you’d see a lot more Sophie on the Six and Clive on the Ten but say if - for example - the Prime Minister mate a significant announcement to the state of the country - you wouldn’t expect someone who holds the same position of Huw to pop up. Instead it would just be a newsreader. For example - my mother isn’t particularly an avid news watcher but knows Fiona, Huw and George most probably because of how long they have been around.

I used to believe that identity and familiarity shaped part of the bulletin and a large part of that was the presenter - although less so now.

The key issue BBC News will face less so in the near future but in 10, 20 years down the line is maintaining young audiences. I fit in the 16-24 bracket and so therefore I - according to the figures - might watch about 3 minutes of news today. I watched 7:30-9, 2-4:30 and 6-8 then the Ten today. Of course my interest in the presentation payed part in that but I was interested in the content most of the time. I find it hard to believe that the average is only 3 minutes or whatever the figures believe, particularly because I am certain that my friends and colleagues in the same age bracket do watch a bulletin.


The issue I see is with 24 hour news. It’s on a phone. Why would you want to watch it? For the analysis? Why would someone do that when they can read an article to comfort their own view? — some key questions the BBC will have to face.

Certainly believe they all three of them could. Sophie seems to be seen as "No 2" to Huw in the pecking order for big events, and Clive and Reeta are both experienced presenters who have worked the way up onto the main channel. I can't see either taking over the top job full time, but certainly carry on in their current roles for at least another decade.

BIB I think Christian Fraser and Tina Daheley are being groomed to be top dogs one day on the BBC. It wouldn't surprise me if a vacany did become available soon, they could be the ones to benefit.

I think it's very healthy though that there hasn't been any rumours of a big name being poached from ITN or Sky for several years. Obviously in the 80's Sissons and Lewis were brought into top roles (of which there were less at the time with the lack of NC) rather than internal promotion.

The thing is, though, back in 1997 I wouldn't have predicted that Huw Edwards would eventually become what he is now when he was the political correspondent on News 24. Within a couple of years he was leading the Six. Even then, he seemed OK but I wouldn't have put him in the same league as Sissons or Buerk at the time. It takes most newsreaders time to grow into that role.

The same could be said for Trevor McDonald and Mark Austin over at ITN. Neither seemed especially remarkable in their younger days but both ended up being the senior newscasters. And the two I'd have put money on getting that far - John Suchet and Alastair Stewart - never made it right to the top.

It's very much a case of being in the right place at the right time and being allowed to grow into the role. I'm certain that when Huw eventually steps down there won't be a ready-made replacement to fill his shoes - whoever gets it will need to develop into it. That person might be someone we all know now, or it could be somebody unheard of at the moment.

I guess you're right. Sometimes it does take you by surprise. In 2015 for instance, I would never have guessed someone like Dan Walker would replace Bill Turnbull on Breakfast. Don't get me wrong I think he's brilliant, but when it was first announced Bill was leaving I was expecting someone like Charlie to get the job as it seemed to be the flow for the weekend equivalent to be promoted when the weekday face moved on, in a similar vein to how I expect Naga to get the top job if Louise ever decided to move on (God help us all).

Who knows, maybe we could see Laura Kuenssberg fronting the Ten in the next five years?

Faisal Islam strikes me as someone who could be a future Huw.

Sophie. Clive. Reeta. Christian. Mishal. All top-notch news presenters.

Adding Simon. Martine. Louise. Naga. Ben. And, of course, Jane.

The BBC is swamped with excellent talent today. Any and all of the above could slot-in anywhere should the need arise.

And that’s without even taking into account yet more excellent talent within the World pool.

In summary: definitely no need for poaching these days!

Yes, and without wishing to be morbid, I'm sure they knew when they revamped the Six that Helen Rollason wasn't going to be the long-term presenter, because she was already very seriously ill at the time. I've said this before but I remember in the first week of the Ten in October 2000 they had a sports bulletin on the Wednesday because there'd been a lot of big football that night, but I don't recall them ever doing that again on a weeknight.



You would say that, while Huw is clearly the chief presenter at BBC News, they have four senior presenters in the shape of Huw, Fiona, Sophie and George who the public know and like and are trusted to handle the very biggest stories. I would guess that those four would be the senior figures on call for major breaking news, like Martyn Lewis was for Diana and Nicholas Witchell was for the hurricane. They all have their own specific areas of interest in expertise - Huw with politics, Fiona with culture, Sophie with royal events, George with world affairs - but are versatile and experienced enough to cover everything.

I really like Clive Myrie as a newsreader, I think he has real authority and a very warm delivery. I really enjoy watching him.



Well, indeed, because when he took over the Six he wasn't particularly well-known - he was a political correspondent, as you say, and had been reading the news for a while on the weekend bulletins and as second presenter on the Six, but he was probably at the level where Reeta Chakrabarti is now. There were all kinds of rumours going around at the time regarding the revamp - it's been mentioned here before but there were rumours the bosses couldn't decide if Jill Dando should do it solo and eventually she got fed up of the discussions and left completely - and when it was announced it was Huw, I think the general concensus was that other people had turned it down and he wasn't the first choice. But, of course, it was an inspired choice.

I could see Clive Myrie as 'lead presenter' on the Ten in the future. Plus whilst Today is a very high profile radio slot, Mishal Husain remains a familiar face to TV viewers still - I could see her moving across for a higher profile TV role if there was a vacancy

I have to agree. You could have him in the morning on the news channel and later on for the 6 and 10 and he is able to adapt to what he is presenting. I remember when he was a regular on the NC in the evening - he was great on The Papers and handled it very well. He slowly moved over to BBC One before becoming a regular on the Ten.

Without going to fantasy rota land of anyone were to be picked next for the 6 and 10 I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Clive got the 10 and Sophie got the 6.

[quote="itsrobert" pid="1231309"][quote="Rolling News" pid="1231302"]

Was Trevor ever at the helm of a breaking news situation where he had to go off script a lot? As much as he had gravitas reading a bulletin, I really can't imagine him handling an active, rolling story.

It was rare for Trevor to operate outside of a structured bulletin. But, he could do if necessary. No doubt.

Going back to BBC and Clive: totally agree with everyone here. He’s been out on the road for years and that, for me, lends so much than just sitting behind a desk and reading.

As you mention, all of the above have similar experiences in their own respective fields.