[DavidWhitfield]

Oliver presented his last series for the BBC - if Google has served me well - for BBC Scotland in 2018. It wasn't until three years later until he joined GB News and started sharing his political opinions.

Normal people sitting at home watching the telly aren't delving into every detail of things, actively trying to unearth hidden links and inconsistencies like people are on here.

The conversation will have gone like this:

"I see there's no sport on BBC Two today."
"Ah. What's on instead?"
"That one where they travel around and look at the coastline."
"Ah. I like that." [or] "Ah, let's see what's on the other side."

Bet most of the people watching BBC Two this afternoon don't even know Neil Oliver is on GB News at all. (Aren't we constantly told that nobody takes GB News seriously, and that nobody watches it?)

It's really not a big deal.

[James2001]

I think it's fair to say Neil Oliver is worse than all the other BBC presenters accused of political bias combined and multiplied tenfold.

[eyeTV]

Match of the Day 2 is down to 15 minutes tonight. The Women's Football Show highlights reduced to 30 minutes (from 45).

22:30 Match of the Day 2
22:45 The Women's Football Show
23:15 Bill Bailey: Summer Larks

the rest of the schedule is brought forward and they are joining BBC News at 00:50 rather than 02:00.

[matthieu1221]

Neil Oliver joining a different organisation years after filming the series and sharing views you personally disagree with doesn't automatically cause Coast to become disgusting taboo content which must never see airtime again.

No it doesn't, David, but I would argue that there is a difference between the "views some personally disagree with" of, say, Alan Sugar or Andrew Neil, and the barmy, completely divorced-from-reality stuff that Neil Oliver comes out with on a weekly basis. I agree that the idea of there being a plot to deliberately put Coast on in order to embarrass the BBC is somewhat far-fetched - but if they are 'cancelling' Lineker for his (IMO, fairly innocuous) comments, it does seem to be a double standard.

Exactly. One of the arguments put forward against Lineker is because of his association with the BBC (aka fronting a show on it) and thus if he tweeted his political opinion it could possibly damage the BBC's reputation as an impartial broadcaster. How the same case does not apply for Neil Oliver is beyond me. Yes, yes, he's made controversial comments after he filmed Coast, but his face is still on there, being associated with the BBC as it is currently still being used on air.

Nothing to do with the opinions expressed, it just really gives the perception once again of double standards.

[DavidWhitfield]

Gary Lineker currently works for the BBC. Neil Oliver hasn't been a presenter on the BBC for four years.

Why should the views Oliver expresses today stop the BBC from airing an old episode of a programme he was part of over a decade ago looking into the coastline of the UK?

One of the arguments put forward against Lineker is because of his association with the BBC (aka fronting a show on it) and thus if he tweeted his political opinion it could possibly damage the BBC's reputation as an impartial broadcaster. How the same case does not apply for Neil Oliver is beyond me. Yes, yes, he's made controversial comments after he filmed Coast, but his face is still on there, being associated with the BBC as it is currently still being used on air.

Are you seriously suggesting that every single person who has ever presented anything on the BBC should feel forever unable to give their opinion on anything remotely political, no matter how long ago they last worked for the corporation, because their catalogue of work will be retrospectively treated as politically biased content which cannot in good conscience be shown from that moment on?

[thomalex]

No it doesn't, David, but I would argue that there is a difference between the "views some personally disagree with" of, say, Alan Sugar or Andrew Neil, and the barmy, completely divorced-from-reality stuff that Neil Oliver comes out with on a weekly basis. I agree that the idea of there being a plot to deliberately put Coast on in order to embarrass the BBC is somewhat far-fetched - but if they are 'cancelling' Lineker for his (IMO, fairly innocuous) comments, it does seem to be a double standard.

Exactly. One of the arguments put forward against Lineker is because of his association with the BBC (aka fronting a show on it) and thus if he tweeted his political opinion it could possibly damage the BBC's reputation as an impartial broadcaster. How the same case does not apply for Neil Oliver is beyond me. Yes, yes, he's made controversial comments after he filmed Coast, but his face is still on there, being associated with the BBC as it is currently still being used on air.

Nothing to do with the opinions expressed, it just really gives the perception once again of double standards.

To be honest I didn’t know Coast was still on. 

Then again Lineker is the BBC’s highest paid presenter and presents major sporting occasions along with things like SPOTY. He is in a different strata to the likes of Oliver and you can expect to be held to a higher standard as a result.

[London Lite]

2230 - MOTD2
2245 - The Women's Football Show
2315 - Bill Bailey - Larks in Transit.

[Steve in Pudsey]

Neil Oliver joining a different organisation years after filming the series and sharing views you personally disagree with doesn't automatically cause Coast to become disgusting taboo content which must never see airtime again.

By that logic, you'd presumably be up for repeats of Jim'll Fix It and Rolf's Cartoon Club?

[Kojak]

Gary Lineker is employed - and paid a seven-figure sum - as we speak. Neil Oliver hasn't been a presenter on the BBC for four years. Why do the views he expresses today stop the BBC from airing an old episode of a programme he was part of over a decade ago looking into the coastline of the UK?

They don't! Look, I liked Coast. I thought it was a great show. I just find it somewhat amusing that Lineker has been taken off air - completely spuriously IMO - for expressing his opinions, yet they replace a programme taken off air by the fallout to all this with an episode of Coast, the presenter of which later became known for his own, very very out-there views. I'm not saying it's a good or a bad thing - just that it's a thing. And quite an ironic thing, at that.

One of the arguments put forward against Lineker is because of his association with the BBC (aka fronting a show on it) and thus if he tweeted his political opinion it could possibly damage the BBC's reputation as an impartial broadcaster. How the same case does not apply for Neil Oliver is beyond me. Yes, yes, he's made controversial comments after he filmed Coast, but his face is still on there, being associated with the BBC as it is currently still being used on air.

Are you seriously suggesting that every single person who has ever presented anything on the BBC should feel forever unable to give their opinion on anything remotely political, no matter how long ago they last worked for the corporation, because their catalogue of work will be retrospectively treated as politically biased content which cannot in good conscience be shown from that moment on?

David, I fear you're now being deliberately obtuse. That is not what ANYONE here is saying. What one or two people here ARE saying is that it seems strange that the BBC has benched Gary Lineker for voicing his opinions, yet they are more than happy to show programmes featuring other people with equally prominent views (just of a different flavour). Do you think they'd continue to show a programme if the presenter turned out to be a neo-Nazi? I think not. Or a sex offender? Well, we all know what happened to those old episodes of Top of the Pops...

[DavidWhitfield]

Neil Oliver joining a different organisation years after filming the series and sharing views you personally disagree with doesn't automatically cause Coast to become disgusting taboo content which must never see airtime again.

By that logic, you'd presumably be up for repeats of Jim'll Fix It and Rolf's Cartoon Club?

Funnily enough, I don't really equate Jimmy Savile's many and varied heinous crimes with Neil Oliver, a man whose main 'crime' appears to be presenting a weekly programme on a right-wing news channel.