Anne And Nick Faces Axe While Richard And Judy Move To London

It is reported that BBC1’s flagship weekday morning programme Good Morning with Anne and Nick is to be axed after it ends its run in May. The show has been in a ratings battle with ITV’s This Morning; Anne and Nick has been attracting only 900,000 viewers at its peak compared to 1.9 million for This Morning.

Rod Natkiel, head of network television at Pebble Mill told MediaTel, “This is an old story, we scrutinize our output as a matter of course, daytime is no exception. Like all other areas of the BBC’s programmes daytime was considered in the programme strategy review process. Various ideas are under consideration, but there are no firm decisions yet. There is a great deal of ill-informed speculation, but that’s all it is. In the meantime BBC weekday programmes will continue as planned into next year.”

Meanwhile rivals Richard and Judy are moving from Granada studios to London, in what is being described as a move to guarantee more showbusiness and celebrity interviews. This has caused some dismay over the weekend as sources say this would add to Merseyside’s unemployment problems.