BBC bosses have held urgent talks to get more women on Saturday night TV – using the success of Strictly’s Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly as inspiration.
It comes after The Sun highlighted the domination of men hosting the biggest entertainment shows aired by the Beeb and ITV.
The corporation has been the first to take action, with executives determined to find ways to get more female talent front and centre on primetime hits.
A BBC insider said: “The Beeb’s very proud to have its biggest show hosted by two hugely talented, high-profile women.
“Tess and Claudia’s popularity on Strictly is proof you don’t need leading men to guarantee a hit show.
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“It is also pleased to say it had the first two female hosts of a big show — Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins fronting The Great British Bake Off when it was on the Beeb. But it is also a tad embarrassed by the fact that, when the dance show isn’t airing, almost all of its other big weekly shows are not fronted by female talent.
“It’s not a deliberate move, just an unfortunate coincidence.
“But it’s one they really want to tackle moving forward, whether that’s utilising existing stars or finding new ones. If it can achieve that, it knows it will have stolen a march on its arch rivals over at ITV.”
The BBC One shows that aired most recently on Saturday night highlight the problem.
There was Bradley and Barney Walsh hosting Gladiators, Micheal McIntyre’s The Wheel, Romesh Ranganathan presenting The Weakest Link, as well as Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman hosting Pointless Celebrities.
It looks particularly bad because The Weakest Link and Gladiators were both previously fronted by Anne Robinson and Ulrika Jonsson respectively.
Meanwhile over on ITV on Saturday night, there was Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway, Lee Mack hosting The 1% Club, followed by The Jonathan Ross Show.
Total respect to the BBC for at least trying to get its house in order on this one, let’s hope others now follow their lead.
A spokeswoman for the BBC declined to comment.
Ant and Gio hit road to El
GORKA Marquez welcomes his Strictly mates Anton Du Beke and Giovanni Pernice on their travels.
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The dancers reunite during BBC One series Anton & Giovanni’s Adventures In Spain, which starts on Monday.
After jetting to Sicily last year to learn all about Giovanni’s country, this time the duo head across Anton’s motherland and end up in Gorka’s home city of Bilbao.
The pair will also stop in Benidorm for a poolside performance.
Anton said: “Giovanni was desperate to get to Ibiza, and we ended up in Benidorm. It’s almost the same.”
Giovanni added: “It was the best part of the series – and I think people will love that.
“It’s a highlight with the swimming pool, the performance.”
Jamie: My bit for chairity
AFTER auditioning for Eurovision and being cancelled by Lenny Henry in previous Comic Relief sketches, Jamie Dornan will this year take his chances in the Mastermind chair.
The actor, who plays Elliot Stanley in drama series The Tourist, faces questionmaster Clive Myrie during tomorrow night’s Red Nose Day fundraiser.
But like his character in the BBC One drama, who woke up in the Australian outback with no memory, he might struggle to remember the answers.
He said: “I never get invited on Mastermind but I think I’d do OK if it was about golf.”
Jamie added: “I watched Comic Relief when I was a kid and was amazed at how much money was being raised for great causes.
“Anytime I’m asked to be a part of it, of course I will.”
- Comic Relief: Funny For Money starts at 7pm.
Karren wines at dud tour
KARREN BRADY is left with a sour taste in her mouth as candidates on The Apprentice fumble their way through a wine tour tonight.
They head to Budapest, where Lord Sugar tasks the teams with selling and running a bespoke trip around the Hungarian capital and a local vineyard.
But no mistakes can get past wine-lover Karren.
Lord Sugar’s assistant said of the episode, which airs on BBC One at 9pm: “The candidates had to do a tour of the vineyard, explain the wine. But more of the facts were hopelessly wrong. Luckily nobody on the tour was a wine expert, except for me.
“I love my wine, so I knew lots of the things they were saying weren’t true. But they fumbled their way through it.”
Adjoa's kept the accent
ADJOA Andoh hasn’t quite shaken off her posh Bridgerton accent for her new role in The Red King.
The actress plays Lady Heather Nancarrow in the Alibi thriller. She is the figurehead of a Welsh island town hiding a secret from chief of police Grace, played by Anjli Mohindra.
According to her co-star Mark Lewis Jones, there is still a little Lady Danbury in her voice.
Keeping Faith’s Mark said: “Adjoa captures posh Welsh, if there’s such a thing.”
Adjoa added: “I don’t know if my accent is good, but my art teacher at school was Heather from the Valleys, so my Heather is basically her voice.”
The Red King starts on Alibi later this month.
Rude boy Rob wins with Al
ROB Beckett tries to “charm” Alison Hammond on his quiz show – by telling her to “shut the f* up!”
The panellist on Rob Beckett’s Smart TV reveals nice guys come last in her dating books and kind ones make her cringe.
So during tonight’s show – on Sky Max at 9pm – she rules out fellow regular Josh Widdicombe, before host Rob gives it a shot.
Viewers of the series, which tests celebrities’ knowledge of the small screen, will hear Alison say: “I start getting the ick when men start being really, really nice to me.
“You can’t be too nice to me, so Josh, stop trying with me – you’re too nice.”
Rob then takes his chance, leaving guests Roman Kemp and Natasia Demetriou in fits of laughter.
He says: “Alison, shut the f* up.”
To which Alison replies: “Yeah, Rob, I like that.”
