The BBC is no country for old men

IN THE week he received his OBE from Prince William, Simon Mayo described working for the BBC as ‘soul-destroying’.

It was certainly soul-crushing to watch how badly he was treated: despite being hugely popular with Radio 2 listeners, Mayo was a victim of various BBC diversity purges and initiatives, and finally left in 2019.

His much-loved film review show with Mark Kermode survived at the Beeb until last month — but now it has gone to Sony.

‘The truth of the matter is, if you were going to start a new film show on the BBC right now there would be no chance of me and Mark being asked to do it,’ Mayo said.

He believes the problem is that they are ‘two middle-aged men’.

Indeed. He could have added straight, white, funny and intelligent to that list of the damned. The BBC is no country for old men, more is the pity.