Ex-BBC host felt ‘hurtled towards exit’
AFORMER BBC Radio 4 presenter left his radio show after feeling it “wouldn’t work” when the show moved to be recorded in Cardiff.
Richard Coles, who is a writer and Church of England clergyman, quit Saturday Live after the BBC told him he would have to record the show in the Welsh capital.
Richard had co-presented Saturday Live with Nikki Bedi for 12 years and left the show in March 2023. Talking to the Radio Times, Richard said it was a “bit disappointing” that he had to quit and that he found the corporation “a bit annoying sometimes”.
The former Strictly contestant explained that it wasn’t only the fact that the show was moving to Cardiff but the haste with which he was eased out, and the fact that his exit was kept from listeners until the last moment.
He said: “I felt rather hurtled towards the exit. Working for an organisation like the BBC, you devote your energies to it and yet they perhaps don’t always respond with similar devotion. It’s a great national institution and more power to its elbow. It would just be nice if it could distinguish that elbow from its arse sometimes.”
At the time of his exit, Coles also told The Guardian: “I’d have preferred the programme to stay in London. I think it would be better. I was happy doing it and I think it’s gone from strength to strength.
“Moving it to Cardiff, I don’t really see how that works, but that’s not my decision, that’s other people’s decision.”
The BBC said that it “invited both presenters to Cardiff to continue the programme” and “his departure was marked on the final show, and he was given space to say farewell to listeners on air”. Richard is not the only former BBC radio presenter to have left presenting on the BBC recently.
Also in 2023, Ken Bruce left his Radio 2 show, to move to Greatest Hits, and also moaned about the BBC’s handling of presenters. Ken said: “There were times when I felt I wasn’t really noticed by either the BBC itself or some listeners.
“So I thought, ‘I’m going to make these people appreciate me.’ And having done that to my satisfaction, I felt it was time to give myself a little challenge, try something different, rather than become stale and wait for the axe.”
Much of the BBC’s content production has been moved outside of London in an effort to push more projects around the UK and provide opportunities for those in the regions. Saturday Live still airs every weekend and is still hosted by Richard’s former co-host, Nikki Bedi, it features a mix of studio guests and real-life stories.