Fund licences, not big TV stars
For the life of me I can’t see why the BBC are paying such massive salaries to these presenters. Graham Norton ‘earns’ almost £800,000 for a few hours on a Saturday morning, a weekly chat show and an occasional award ceremony (Mirror, May 6).
If I was Steve Wright or Ken Bruce, who are well seasoned and experienced presenters but who earn far less than Zoe Ball, who receives £1.36million for a few hours each morning, I would be asking questions.
It also amazes me that Huw Edwards – who’s arguably the BBC’s most accomplished newsreader with his knowledge, narration and presentation of royal events such as the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral and Remembrance Day – is apparently worth less than Norton and Ball.
What do other readers think?
Chris Smith, Northampton
I have nothing against Graham Norton per se, but I was absolutely disgusted to read he is getting a total of more than £3million a year. The other celebrities listed in the Mirror’s Beeb’s Big Earners panel, including Zoe Ball, Gary Lineker and Steve Wright, are also being paid obscene amounts the corporation can ill afford.
Not only do I object to my money as a licence payer going towards these so-called stars but it’s also a disgrace that hard-up pensioners are having to pay for a TV licence.
If the BBC paid less money to people like this and cut down on the amount of
presenters used in programmes, the over-75s might then get their free licences back.
D Richens, South East London
Graham Norton is possibly the best chat show host there’s ever been and he is worth the £260,000 pay rise. A lot of the success of his show is down to how good his researchers are at uncovering gems about his guests, but he holds the entire thing together. He has the rare ability to laugh with people, rather than at them. That is why he repeatedly gets great guests and is one of the Beeb’s highest paid stars.
Kevin Fields, Birmingham
I like Graham Norton and his chat show, but it’s wrong he’s getting a huge pay rise funded by hard-pressed licence fee payers, especially when most over-75s now have to pay for a TV licence.
It’s about time the salaries for overpaid footballers and TV stars were reviewed when so many people in this country are struggling and have lost their jobs due to Covid. Perhaps it’s time we had not only a minimum wage but a maximum salary to redress the
disgusting levels of inequality in this country?
S Graham, Norwich
Yet again the earnings of BBC stars rears its ugly head. After scrapping the free licence TV licence for the over-75s, the BBC still feels giving pay rises to already overpaid stars is acceptable to the licence fee-paying public. It is high time the fee became voluntary. Ken Pennington, Stalybridge Cheshire
TV licences should be abolished for good. It is absolutely disgusting that these exorbitant salaries are paid to the so-called stars while a great percentage of the population are going hungry and can’t afford to pay their bills. No one is worth all that money, no matter how good they are.
Tracy Cook, Leicester
In my opinion, Graham Norton is worth every penny of his nearly £4m salary – and more. He’s up there with the greats such as Tommy Cooper and Morecambe and Wise for entertainment value. Long may he continue.