BBC Ten O'Clock News

I personally don't have a problem with Huw. He's good at his job -- he must be, or he wouldn't have risen to the top of BBC News!

As for Phil Hayton -- he doesn't want to go back to Network bulletins. He said he prefers the rolling nature of News 24, and to be honest, he does seem happy there. It would be fantastic to see him back on BBC One, but he doesn't want to, as far as I know.

Hear Hear ref Moira! She should be on one of the main bulletins, even if it is only weekend news again. On weekend news, there is rarely any interviewing to be done, unless its with a correspondent in the field or with the sports presenter. Moira is more than capable of handling that, for Goodness Sake.

Huw - sorry. Just can't take him at all.

Sorry to hear that Phil is happy on the rolling news of N24. I feel that BBC Network news needs a credible (perhaps old face) presenter. What other suggestions does anyone have?

Radical - such as Witchell coming back, or Jeremy from Sky??????

It would be good to see Michael Buerk back. He occasionally presents the Ten - but when he left he was going back to being a reporter in Africa, but I haven't seen him at all. Has he decided to retire, and just come back occassionally for the Ten? Remember him on Breakfast earlier this year, he was good on that programme too.

On Nicholas Witchell - what is he ? He seemed to have the title Royal Correspondent after Jenny Bond, but June Kelly seems to have that title now. Then he has been in Darfur. Is he a Special Correspondent like Ben Brown ie. covering major events, or is he just a news correspondent ?

I am not sure what Mrs. Witchell's current job title and remit is. As I only really am able to watch BBC World, we see even less of Nicholas Witchell than those of you in the UK.

Would be nice to see Michael Buerk back in the chair though. He is a fine broadcast journalist. So, too, is Peter Sissons in my opinion. Both Peter and Michael are far more credible and palatable than Huw and Fiona.

But I would still love to see Moira accompanying one of the senior guys (Philip preferably) as co-presenter.

Has John Humphrys entirely given up presenting BBC TV News? I do recall that even after his move to Today, he did appear on several occasions on the Six, alongside Jill, Jennie and Andrew.

Does anyone remember the odd situation that occurred for two weeks in the late eighties when the BBC News line up was as follows:-

One O'Clock News - Nicholas Witchell
Six O'Clock News - Nicholas Witchell and Michael Buerk (Nick led it.)
Nine O'Clock News - Michael Buerk and Nicholas Witchell (Mike led it).

These two guys handled the entire BBC1 news output between them for two working weeks. Moira only did the weekends. It seemed that everyone else in the BBC News Team (Julia, Sue, Philip, Andrew, Jill, Jeremy, Debbie, Frances, John and Martyn at the time) were all away on hols at the same time. It was a Witchell-Buerk Fest for two whole weeks. Even then, I wondered why it happened. Surely they could have let Moira co-present the Six and Nine back then???? (This all happened actually before Moira eventually DID become the co-presenter on the Six and Nine).

Anyway, one can only wonder..............

John Humphrys still does Today on Radio 4, but no appearances on BBC TV News. He currently presents Mastermind, after the departure of Magnus Magnusson.

Just to correct you - in fact Michael Burke hasn't presented any BBC News bulletin in 2004. He did the One once late last year - and he did Breakfast in the summer of 2003 - more than a year ago.

He seemed to fit in very well on Brekkie if i remember. I much prefer him to Peter Sissons.

I would also like to see Justin Webb back - he was great, better than Peter Sissons and Anna Ford IMO.

Not forgetting that Clive Anderson presented a series or two of Mastermind when it went to a satellite channel for a while?

Sorry - you're right Breakfast was last year. But he has done the Ten once or twice this year. I remember he was presenting on the day of the South Africa elections, and the tenth anniversary of the end of Apartheid in South Africa. I was doing South Africa in my Higher Modern Studies course, and remember him presenting.

I agree Justin Webb was excellent, as was Ed Stourton in my opinion. I haven't seen John Humphries present for years now and can't see him coming back.
Michael Buerk isn't fully retired at all as he still presents a couple of programmes on Radio 4. He has also recently completed this autobiography.
Whilst Sissons was excellent on the Ten, Buerk had the ability to allow viewers to better warm to him.Fact of the matter is though, Huw and Fiona are no replacement for Sissons and Buerk and I don't really see any people 'coming through the system' who will match them.

I would leave the 10 to the older, respected (without being ageist) presenters, such as Moira and Phillip. I am against dual-presenters also (apart from when one is playing a smaller role i.e. will take some of the stories, but plays no part in the headlines). Also Sophie/Fionas personal situation will have to be taken into account. When Sophies daughter starts schoole, I doubt Sophie will want to work on the 6, just as Fiona wouldnt. I would have it like this:-

1: Fiona Bruce / Sophie Raworth (like the old Sissons/Buerk 10) and with Simon McCoy in reserve
6: Huw Edwards / Jane Hill (ditto) and with Natasha Kaplinsky in reserve
10: Phillip Hayton / Nicholas Witchell / Peter Sissons / Michael Buerk / George Alagiah (taking one day each per week)

Weekends : Dermot (main presenter) , Natasha (main presenter 2), Phillip, Darren

Breakfast: Bill and Sian or Darren and Mishal with Mishal and Simon at weekends

lucky you! he really is the most pompous, irritating, quite frankly useless person at the BBC.

Well I noticed that Nick Witchell - as he seems to be referred to - is ' World Affairs Correspondent '