[JamesWorldNews]

Could we see a Maitlis return? Or Kirsty Wark? And why not Reeta? She’s done the Westminster beat, has she not?

[DTV]

Could we see a Maitlis return? Or Kirsty Wark? And why not Reeta? She’s done the Westminster beat, has she not?

I suspect Maitlis has been a bit too political and critical of the BBC since leaving to be back, especially in such a role. 

Wark, though, is a good shout - she led the 1999 devolved election coverage and co-presented 2021 with Huw.

[AaronLancs]

I doubt Mailtlis would return. Don't forget the Beeb's history of people when they sign to Global. They were instantly taken off air and told not to let the door hit them on their way out.

Also given the ubiquity of The News Agents podcast and how well it is doing especially with the launch of its weekly supplement The News Agents USA. Would she ever want to return? That is the key question

[Gallunach]

However, the way the BBC has completely disallowed any use of archive footage that includes him I find extreme.

Has this been confirmed or is it just speculation ?

[Brekkie]

Even putting the Huw issue to one side with Maitlis gone (IMO the biggest loss to BBC News in recent years) there was likely a role to fill as I suspect the overnight and daytime split will remain. It never really made sense how traditionally three distinct half hour bulletins were deemed to require separate presenters but one almost continuous 12-20 hour broadcast was left to one person.

[all new phil]

I’d have thought Jo Coburn for election night would be a safe pair of hands.

[DTV]

I’d have thought Jo Coburn for election night would be a safe pair of hands.

She would and has been good on local election daytimes the last few years, but, given she wasn't given the lead role this year, I suspect she isn't the executive's top pick. Personally, I'd predict Kuenssberg will get it, maybe with Coburn on daytimes; there just weren't really many issues with the 'dry run' this year, so I can't see much pressure to change the set-up drastically.

[Chud]

I’d have thought Jo Coburn for election night would be a safe pair of hands.

Jo Coburn and Kirsty Young, with Shaun Ley doing the analysis, telling us about some parliament facts at 3 o’clock in the morning. Perfect.

[Radio_man]

Has this been confirmed or is it just speculation ?

It's obvious - it was the most obvious in the current Laura K docu-series "A State of Chaos". They used clips of Dimbleby announcing results for the 2016 Brexit referendum and the exit poll of the 2017 General Election, but for the 2019 General Election they used a radio clip for the exit poll and no studio clips of Huw announcing any results, just clips of Laura doing analysis.
Huw has been front and centre of news coverage of the political chaos since 2016 but not one clip of him has appeared on the program. 

Plus there was the incident this weekend on Breakfast where an old episode of Newswatch was played out by mistake and as soon as Huw appeared they hastily took the program off, blaming "technical gremlins".

[neonemesis]

Has this been confirmed or is it just speculation ?

I doubt we will ever hear if there is any explicit policy in place, but to avoid content featuring Huw just makes sense.

1) It prevents this documentary being overshadowed by the speculation around him, rather than its contents
2) If the investigation results in his departure then there will be additional questions to answer about why he was featured while suspended
3) Featuring him in such a prominent doc would remind everyone that he isn't around at the moment, potentially whipping up unnecessary speculation
4) The story could still be effectively told without him

Effectively, no upside to including him, plenty of downside.