Sue Barker has spoken out about her departure from A Question of Sport and branded the BBC’s handling of the situation as “insulting”.
The legendary broadcaster was the host of the sports quiz programme from 1997 until 2021 but in September 2020, it was announced that she and long-term team captains Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell would be leaving the show.
The long-running series, now called Question of Sport, is currently presented by Paddy McGuinness, with team captains Sam Quek and Ugo Monye.
Reflecting on the situation, the former tennis star said she was left saddened by the way in which her departure was handled.
While she insisted she had no problem with being replaced, Barker explained that the BBC’s handling taught her there was “no way of leaving a role in a nice, pleasant manner with your head held high”.
In an excerpt from her new book, which was obtained by MailOnline, she writes: "The countdown to the end had begun in October 2016, when A Question Of Sport was one of the first BBC shows to be put out to tender to independent production companies.
"I was on holiday when a few TV producer friends contacted me. They’d seen the BBC tender document and couldn’t believe my name wasn’t on it. Apparently the BBC wanted to refresh the show — with more diversity and more appeal to a younger audience. I was gobsmacked. How did they think I wasn’t going to hear about this?"
The 66-year-old explained that many of the bidding production companies were keen to keep her on, which resulted in the broadcaster performing a U-turn and stating that “they didn’t want to change the line-up.”
She wrote: "Two years later, BBC management told me my contract was being renewed for two years, but that in the final year they’d ask me to take on two new team captains to replace Phil Tufnell and Matt Dawson.
"I didn’t need to think long about this: I said I’d leave with the boys. Nothing was decided over that next year so we all got another extension to our contracts."
Then in 2020, speculation began again over the trio’s future on the show, but with no update she started to believe another extension was on the cards.
However, Barker recalled how that changed during a recording session when they were individually called into “separate meetings with management”.
Although accepting the BBC’s decision, the TV star said leaving the show was “wretchedly sad” and left the team captains “devastated”.
According to Barker, the trio asked the broadcaster to provide statements for when the news broke of their departure – but instead they faced “silence”, claiming there was “no email, no letter, no phone call”.
Then two weeks before their final episode, they received an email from BBC management which is when the “anger set in” for Barker.
She added that three days later she was told news of their exit would be announced and that she was “sent a statement that the BBC wanted me to approve immediately, saying the three of us had decided to step aside”.
As it wasn’t their decision, the presenter claimed that they “point-blank refused” to sign the statement and alleged that the BBC then requested that she “announce that I was leaving for the good of the show’, which was ‘insulting’ as it was like they were asking me to ‘sack myself’”.
Barker claimed she told the broadcaster to “own their decision and declare publicly that they wanted to refresh the show”.
However, in a remarkable turnaround Barker claimed she was offered her job back, but declined it as she “couldn’t help but feel they didn’t want me anymore”.
Evening Standard has contacted BBC for comment.
