It’s a man’s world on primetime TV, as BBC and ITV Saturday lineups have no female presenters
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The BBC and ITV have been pulled into a sexism row after 10 men but no women hosted primetime shows across the two channels on Saturday night.
BBC One and ITV1’s primetime shows, including The Weakest Link, Wheel of Fortune and Gladiators, included no female presenters, while Davina McCall featured as the only female panellist on ITV’s The Masked Singer.
The programming from 5 to 10pm included male hosts such as Graham Norton, Joel Dommett, Ant & Dec and Romesh Ranganathan.
Earlier this week, Sandi Toksvig, the former Great British Bake Off host, told Radio Times there were not enough women hosting TV chat and game shows.
“I would still like to see more women in charge of shows,” she said. “Let’s not even start on chat show hosts. Where are the female chat show hosts?”
The 65-year-old, who took over from Stephen Fry as host of the BBC quiz show QI, added: “Being the quizmaster, between you and me, is the easiest job in the world because they tell you the answers beforehand.
“And those cards on which the answers are printed are not as heavy as some of those boys led us to believe – it’s really fine for a woman to do it.”
Defending its programming, ITV insisted that it had a “broad roster of female on-screen talent” across daytime and primetime schedules, citing examples such as Maya Jama, the Love Island host, and Holly Willoughby’s return to TV to host Dancing on Ice.
Additionally, Ms McCall, one of the UK’s most well-known presenters, is fronting My Mum Your Dad for ITV, while former model Abbey Clancy is hosting a new series called Celebrity Homes.
BBC insists Saturday evening’s schedule ‘a snapshot’
The BBC insisted Saturday evening’s schedule was “only a snapshot” of the corporation’s wider programming, “which regularly features female talent at the forefront”.
The BBC currently boasts Claudia Winkleman as the host of Bafta-winning series The Traitors, which airs on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, while she also hosts Strictly Come Dancing, along with Tess Daly, at weekends.
However, the broadcaster’s Saturday evening line-up failed to include any of its female-led shows.
It comes after the BBC was criticised for sidelining five female presenters for almost a year as part of the merging of its domestic and foreign news channels.
Earlier this month, it was announced that the news presenters, who have been kept on full pay, were expected to be handed new jobs, according to The Sunday Times.
Martine Croxall, Karin Giannone, Annita McVeigh, Geeta Guru-Murthy and Kasia Madera have been unable to work at the broadcaster since last March, as it established the structure of its slimmed-down rolling news operation.
The corporation has come under growing pressure to find a resolution for the female presenters - who between them have more than 100 years of experience working at the BBC - amid increasing anger about them being left in limbo.
The BBC has initiatives in place to help ensure that women are represented at the company, such as the 50:50 equality project founded by Ros Atkins, the news presenter, in 2017. It urges BBC editors to monitor the number of contributors on their programmes to gather data and set diversity benchmarks with the aim of at least half being women.
As of last March, the broadcaster had also achieved its benchmark of employing at least 50 per cent women in full-time positions, while the latest industry figures show that its female on-screen contribution percentage in 2021/22 was 55.2 per cent.
‘Proud track record’
A spokesman said: “The BBC has a proud track record of showcasing female presenting talent, and last Saturday’s schedule was only a snapshot of our wider schedule, which regularly features female talent at the forefront.
“Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman have been presenting Strictly Come Dancing for nine years and were the first all-female presenters on any Saturday evening entertainment show in the UK.
“Other female talent front and centre of BBC One Saturday night and prime time entertainment shows include Hannah Waddingham, Alesha Dixon, Mel Giedroyc, Alex Scott, Rochelle Humes, Zoe Ball, AJ Odudu, Holly Willoughby, Amanda Holden, Alison Hammond, Oti Mabuse and Maya Jama.”
An ITV spokesman told The Telegraph: “We have a broad roster of female on-screen talent across our entire daytime and primetime schedules, and a number of our biggest formats, including Love Island, Big Brother, The Voice UK, Dancing on Ice, My Mum Your Dad and Soccer Aid are hosted or co-hosted by female presenters.
“Additionally, big weekend shows such as The Masked Singer, Britain’s Got Talent, The Voice UK and Dancing on Ice feature female talent in prominent on-screen judging roles.
“In the last year, we have broadcast shows including An Audience with Kylie Minogue, Mamma Mia I Have A Dream hosted by Zoe Ball and featuring three females on the judging panel, as well as the Olivier Awards and British Soap Awards which were both hosted by female presenters.”
