BBC onscreen talent brain drain
#1

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?

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#2

I don't know about news but there just aren't many big names in entertainment anymore.

Outside of Ant & Dec are there many really big personalities even at ITV?

I mean the BBC do have Michael McIntyre and Bradley Walsh on Saturdays for part of the year, so do ok for what there is.

It's not like before when TV presenters had previously been entertainers, comedians or from kids TV.
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#3

I think one of the problems for journalism is the continued decimation of local and regional broadcasting and local newspapers. Cuts to local radio and regional TV, and the transformation of local newspapers from substantial operations to a token coverage of a few news stories padded with clickbait reduce the opportunities for people to hone their craft, reducing the number of people who are ready to move onto a national stage.

Almost all of the list of names you mention all started in local/regional broadcasting or newspapers:

Jill Dando - Weston Mercury, BBC Spotlight
Emily Maitlis - BBC London
Laura Kuenssberg - BBC North East
Michael Buerk - Bromsgrove Messenger, South Wales Echo, BBC Radio Bristol
John Humphrys - Pennarth Times, Western Mail, TWW, BBC North West
Andrew Marr - The Scotsman
Eddie Mair - Radio Tay, BBC Radio Scotland

Those opportunities are few and far between now. As I mentioned in one of the threads around the Women's Euros, regarding the excellent commentary from Robyn Cowen (ex Radio Oxford), the role of local radio as a talent incubator for network seems to be being forgotten in the current death by a thousand cuts. The same can probably by said of the BBC News Channel's current predicament.

In terms of light entertainment, the demise of Saturday morning kids TV is surely a factor as has been noted. Ant, Dec, Phillip Schofield, Holly Willoughby, Stephen Mulhern, so many of ITV's core go-to talent came through that route. (And historically, a certain Noel Edmonds on the other side)
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