[Parsons]

Following on from the negative publicity following the appointment of Amol Rajan as the new University Challenge host, it's very apparent how the BBC has a diminishing pool of big names to pick from within it's own ranks.  

There is a long tradition of the more popular news correspondents and presenters expanding into other roles and programmes - Jill Dando, Fiona Bruce, Michael Buerk, John Humphries to name just a few over the years and this became to be fairly healthy number of faces. 

Recently we've had departures of big names such as Andrew Marr, Emily Maitlis, Laura Kuenssberg, Eddie Mair, to the point now the pool of talent which rotates around the various offshoot programmes is now smaller than it's ever been and the same faces seem everywhere. 

I switch on BBC Breakfast from time to time - it is so lightweight these days, little chemistry between the presenters (you almost get the feeling some of them hate each other) -  it's bland and with no gravitas. 

It strikes me as odd that even when it comes to primetime Saturday night entertainment and big shiny floor programmes, unlike ITV, the BBC has no 'Ant & Dec' , or other signature names to pull from.

So what's the reason for this lack of personality? 

is it, as was speculated and feared when the BBC was forced to publish presenters salaries -  commercial rivals making offers no reasonable human can refuse and big names are naturally jumping ship? is it management culture? it because the BBC has had it's fingers burned with Jimmy Savile and the other high profile sexual abuse scandals that it is reducing it's pool of talent and big personalities deliberately to a very small ultra safe selection?  or is my rose tinted glasses, and i find it harder to warm to the newer talent replacing the old?