16-11-2022, 12:49 AM
(16-11-2022, 12:44 AM)Newsroom Wrote:(16-11-2022, 12:07 AM)Kojak Wrote: Does anyone else think there is still (nearly three years on!) a big hole in the presenter line-up since Alastair Stewart left? Until the start of 2020, whenever any of the main presenters (so Nina, Mary, Tom/Julie/Rageh) were away, 9 times out of 10 Alastair would fill in. Now it seems to be anyone and everyone. Over the past few months I've seen Lucrezia and Chris Ship on News at Ten, Gamal on the Lunchtime and even Evening News, and it seems anyone walking along Gray's Inn Road gets to do the Lunchtime News. I don't know. It just seems to lack consistency now.Someone do correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m very sure Mary hasn’t presented NAT since Tom Brady replaced Mark Austin. I believe that she made it very clear at the time she wouldn’t be continuing with NAT in any capacity. I’ve had a look on YouTube and can’t see a trace of her doing so.
I don't know anything about Mary refusing to cover after 'Bradby-gate' (though it sounds like you do!) - but you are definitely correct that she has not done a single Ten since 2015. Or a Lunchtime News, for that matter. I believe the official reason is that 'ITV like to keep certain presenters to certain bulletins'. How much truth there is to that line, I don't know, given that Nina sometimes does News at Ten, Charlene and Lucrezia regularly appear across all three bulletins, and Tom Bradby even did a Lunchtime the other week! (albeit from Downing Street).
Back in the days of the News at 10:30, Mary hardly ever appeared on that (despite her initially being touted as one of the presenters of that bulletin!) - I think possibly no more than a dozen times over the four years that it ran? After Trevor left, it was nearly always one of Mark, Alastair or James Mates on that programme.