Working Lunch dropped, GMT with George Alagiah to replace

Working Lunch dropped GMT with George Alagiah from BBC World to replace

BBC axes Working Lunch

Corporation drops BBC2 business news show on which Adrian Chiles rose to fame to make way for George Alagiah programme

At the end of a week that began with Adrian Chiles defecting to ITV, the BBC is axing Working Lunch, the BBC2 business news programme on which he first came to prominence.

Working Lunch, which has a fixture of BBC2's lunchtime schedule since 1994, will be replaced by a new current affairs programme anchored by George Alagiah called GMT. The BBC said it will showcase some of the best BBC journalism from around the world and will have a "strong business focus".

A BBC spokesman said: "It's always sad when a programme reaches the end of its life cycle, but our business coverage has never been about one programme. The cancellation of Working Lunch will deliver cost savings for BBC News, much of which will be recycled back into programme-making."


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www.guardian.co.uk/media

A shame to see WL go, but in my opinion it's not been the same since they replaced the old team of Nik Wood/Adam Shaw/Paddy O'Connell.

It is a shame, but agree its never been as good with Declan and Naga - I wonder where they will go? Declan to the One Show...hah?!

I presume Naga will probably become a business or news presenter on the News channel.

The sad thing is...it was actually more enjoyable when it came from the cheap looking set, the old redressed Breakfast News and Breakfast sets...when it moved into the video-wall era of TC7 it did however look awesome with the blue desk and those sofas...oh well, all good things come to an end!

Serves them right for ditching the fish!

GMT is actually quite good. Normally Stephen Sackur or Jonathan Charles anchors it on a Friday when George has his (usual) day off. To make it even more business savvy, they should make it double headed and bring-in Juliette Foster to be the co-presenter alongside George, with Juliette taking the lead on a Friday when George is away. (Or else, bring back Manisha Tank from CNN. She would be a good foil for our George too.)

(If I am not mistaken, didn't BIG MOIRA even appear as a presenter for one season of Working Lunch? I seem to recall her and Adam Shaw presenting it together).

Working Lunch deserves to die - I used to like how they took proper business news and segments and expressed it in an almost cartoon-like way, now they dumb the news and segments down which is quite different.

Never liked Naga or Declan on it - Adam, Adrian, Nick and Paddy were far better and they were stupid to axe them.

Intriguing to hear GMT is to air instead - sensible choice in my opinion. I wish we got to see more WORLD NEWS programmes on UK television.

The relaunch was a spectacular failure, I've not been able to watch it since the fish went. I feel there was a mistake further up (as ever) mistaking what they did well which was looking at Business through a laypersons eye and making it make sense whilst gently mocking it, but at the same time knowing what they were on about. It was somewaht like Liquid News in that sense. However the change just turned it into a really dump patronising show that lacked the quirky gravitas of the previous version.

However it's certainly good to see something serious replacing it rather than the dirge you often find the BBC can make appear to replace shows.

I'm a bit confused about the scheduling

Will GMT on BBC2 be 30 or 60 minutes?
Will it be simulcast, tape delayed or be a separate edition completely to the BBC World edition
Will it go directly into the Working Lunch slot, or will the Daily Politics get moved
And what about Wednesday's when the Daily Politics is on until 1pm, making a simulcast off BBC World impossible

The Guardian said a 'UK edition' of GMT, so I'm not sure if this will be a dedicated version or simply UK stories when world viewers are watching commercial breaks, in the same way as is done overnight (there are commercial breaks during GMT, right?).

I can't imagine the Daily Politics getting moved, and the Daily Politics seems to move about constantly in the schedules, so it's anyone's guess what they plan to do with GMT.

To be honest, I think it was really Adam Shaw that made the show what it was in it's heyday. His ability to explain the most complex things in a non-patronising but simple way was a true gift. At the same time, you had the confidence he really knew all the complexities inside out and was telling you the truth.

Plus all the geekery and self deprecating humour in Shaw's Shares was never easily replacable. As others have said, the new format got it wrong by making all the advice patronising and having none of the humour. They even introduced surnames in the new format, when loyal viewers always knew regular contributors as simply Gillian, Rob or Simon.

bet you naga will move onto the news channel...

I'm quite glad if it means we never have to see that hideous giant coins table ever again. In fact I would go so far as to blame that for the show's low ratings.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

GMT on BBC World is 60mins long, so I'm assuming when it gets to half past, they'll focus on the UK and it'll be simulcast.