IG UDGET ON Stars getting extra £1m

MOTD HOST: Lineker

CHAT KING: Norton

THE BBC has paid its top stars nearly £1million more in the past year despite a drive to cut costs.

Its annual report also showed the number of people employed has risen by more than 300 to 18,974, and the total wage bill has gone up from £955m to £976.5m.

The amount spent on the big-hitters who take home more than £1m a year has gone from £4.2m to £5.1m.

They include Match Of The Day presenter Gary Lineker and chat show king Graham Norton.

Eurovision host Norton pockets £2.6m while Lineker gets an estimated £2m.

The bill for on-screen talent rose from £194m to £208m, but the figure now includes salaries from World Service presenters. The BBC did cut the amount paid to talent earning between £500,000 and £750,000, which fell from £6.5m to £2.9m.

Director-general Lord Hall has pledged to save £50m by cutting layers of management.

The corporation is in the middle of its Delivering Quality First efficiency drive which it says has saved £484m this year.

Lord Hall revealed a fiveyear plan to generate £1bn from its commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, to help offset new costs including the over-75s’ licence fees which were announced in the Budget last week.

BBC Worldwide paid £226.5m to the Beeb last year due to the success of hit shows including Doctor Who and Great British Bake Off.

Doctor Who was its top seller abroad.