Move over Poldark – meet the Beeb’s Beirut Beefcake!
How the BBC’s new man in Lebanon has got female viewers hot for foreign affairs
FOREIGN correspondents are normally hailed for their gritty dispatches from the front line.
But the BBC’s new man in Beirut is winning fans not for his in-depth knowledge of the Middle East – but for his movie-star good looks and his habit of posting daring selfies on social media.
In a series of topless pictures on Instagram, James Longman shows off his gym-honed body and enviable six-pack.
And the images – of a type more usually seen from reality TV stars than authoritative journalists – seem to be distracting viewers from his insights.
On Friday, Longman took part in a question-and-answer session about the crisis in Syria on the BBC News Facebook page.
But amid queries about Bashar al-Assad’s notorious regime and Western air strikes against Islamic State, the correspondent was bomadded: barded with compliments about his appearance.
One participant, Tracey Bourke, wrote simply: ‘Hottie.’
Joel Ewski was one of several fans who compared him to a young Richard Gere, while Michelle Marie added: ‘Handsome indeed!’
The 29-year-old journalist, who is halfway through a two-month stint in Beirut, has posted a series of revealing snaps to his 7,500 Instagram followers.
In one topless selfie from last year, the former public schoolboy displayed his six-pack after a workout. In response, one fan wrote simply: ‘Wow.’ Another added: ‘Marry me.’
The flurry of compliments from female and male admirers has led to comparisons with the national obsession with Poldark star Aidan Turner’s toned torso. After seeing one of Longman’s reports on the BBC News Channel, one female Twitter user wrote: ‘Oh, hello! Have just come across dishy BBC News Beirut Correspondent James Longman.’
Another fan, Scott Hunter, added: ‘Has anyone else seen how sexy James Longman is? He’s a treat for the eyes on the news.’
Emma Luxton wrote: ‘Seeing James Longman on my TV in the morning definitely starts my day well. Although the terrible things he’s reporting bring me down.’
Last night veteran war correspondent Martin Bell told The Mail on Sunday that in the modern media landscape, ‘it’s definitely an advantage to be good-looking. It didn’t matter in the past.’
Mr Bell, who was badly wounded by shrapnel as he delivered a bulletin from Sarajevo in 1992, ‘I wouldn’t get a job now but I was lucky to be born when I was. Good luck to him.’
Longman, a former head boy of £31,000-a year Worth School in West Sussex, has worked at the BBC for four years, during which he has reported for the Victoria Derbyshire show and covered terror attacks in Paris and Nice.
In May, he revealed in a heartfelt broadcast about mental illness that he had suffered from depression, and that his father had had schizophrenia and killed himself when James was only nine.
Sociology professor Frank Furedi said that the comments about both Longman and Turner were part of a trend that makes it increasingly acceptable to comment on the bodies of men on TV, but not women.
‘We’re now in a situation where it’s OK to talk about the six-pack of a man but it’s not OK to talk about the body of a woman in the same kind of way,’ he said.
‘That kind of double standard has become, to some extent, part of our convention.’
Last night, Longman declined to discuss his growing fan base, but said: ‘I’m very flattered.’ The BBC also declined to comment.