OK, I stand corrected. But she's never done the
Ten
. Have you noticed in that clip that the lighting in the studio makes Moira's hair look like Elvis Presley from a certain angle?
Let's put this into perspective - a 5 minute slot once a week was never going to be a long term arrangement.
Moira's days were numbered when she was dumped from Breakfast. For a short time she did do some weekend bulletins, but seems to have been dumped from that.
Moira though was really dropped way back in 1999 - don't think apart from the recent weekend editions, she's ever hosted a 1, 6 or 9/10 since then!
Indeed and it could be argued that it was a waste of time bringing her in for her Sunday shift as it was when you can have one of the Breakfast presenters do the Sunday AM bulletins and Tim or whoever is on News 24 in the afternoon doing The Politics Show update (as is happening now and did happen before Moira started doing that shift)
This is probably going to sound really bad, but if the bosses thought she was as good as we know she all is, wouldnt they have given her better position to do?
Exactly - if not a regular role on BBC1 something on News 24 or perhaps BBC World. She'd be good on something like The World on BBC4.
Perhaps though she is from the old-school and has no interest in presenting anything on News 24 - so just held on to whatever she could grab on BBC1.
Perhaps though she is from the old-school and has no interest in presenting anything on News 24 - so just held on to whatever she could grab on BBC1.
But then she did do News 24 didn't she?! She did the 'Breakfast 24' slot between being dropped from the nationals line-up in '99 and going to the 'News 24 Briefing' (as was originally called) on Breakfast. I think that without the change in format when Breakfast replaced Breakfast News, Moira would have been out of a job years ago.
In fact I wouldn't be surprised if that role was made on Breakfast, just for her...afterall, they managed fine before that without a separate newsreader, and are doing fine just now without one....maybe it was just prolonging her position at BBC News?
Well - they really seem to have binned her haven't they?
She has a great presence and I hope that they will utilise her skills for future years on other projects.
Although, she did leave Breakfast with some pomp this was the same week Anna left the 'One' which completely eclipsed this.
I think she should chuck wine over BBC News bosses and that should resurrect her status.
To think that she used to be the Queen of BBC News and then unceremoniously dumped from her throne is very depressing. 1981 to 2007 is an impressive lifetime in telly land. She has done well to last that period of time!
I for one will miss her immensely
To think that she used to be the Queen of BBC News and then unceremoniously dumped from her throne is very depressing. 1981 to 2007 is an impressive lifetime in telly land. She has done well to last that period of time!
I for one will miss her immensely
On the plus side at least Kaplinsky won't last that long!
I think Moira would make a good co-anchor of the Five O'clock News with Huw. I've always thought the single headed aspect of the slot doesn't fit with N24.
This news is really sad. Moira may not have a journalism degree but that does not mean she is not a capable presenter. I would argue that her 26 years in television news completely eclipses the likes of Kaplinsky and Silverton's degrees. Moira was reading the news as those two were growing up! Moira is in the prime of her life - 55 is not over the hill. She has more wordly experience, not to mention broadcasting experience. If Peter Sissons can still be presenting, then I don't see why Moira - and Anna - can't. I'd much sooner get my news from any of those three than the current line-up on BBC1/News 24. Why couldn't Moira have just been given weekends? Those bulletins are never presented by the same person each week, so a bit of stability would be nice. Moira would have been the ideal person to front those bulletins.
I found it humorous that one of the "comments" on the YouTube clip above from 1986 stated that "when the Queen retires, we should have Moira's head on the coins instead".
I think we should just stick to the T-Shirts.......................
I think Moira Stuart has become a national legend more because of the length of time she has been reading the news - after originally being famous for being the first black person to do so - than because of her particular talent. She is warm with the right amount of gravitas but I know a lot of people find her voice too throaty and difficult to understand. Think of Zadie Smith having her character in White Teeth say, at the time of the Salman Rushdie affair, something along the lines of:
"This Moira Whatshername, I can't understand what she's saying. Why is she reading the news when she swallows her words so much?"
It would probably be better if she was given a role presenting documentaries or other programmes, like she did on "Who do you think you are?"
