Sue Barker has said she “regrets” the manner in which her 24 years of hosting A Question Of Sport came to an end.
The former professional tennis player and broadcaster presented the sports quiz show from 1997 to 2021.
In September 2020, it was announced that Barker would be leaving the programme, with Paddy McGuinness later announced as her replacement. Team captains Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell also left alongside her and were replaced by Sam Quek and Ugo Monye.
Appearing on BBC Breakfast on Friday (30 September), Barker suggested that while the BBC had wanted her to say her departure was her own choice, she was instead replaced as part of a “refresh”.
“It is such a shame because, I have to say, that the BBC had told us we were going,” Barker said.
“They wanted to refresh the programme and that is absolutely fine. Everyone has the right to do that. We don’t own the programme... We knew it was going to happen and it was just the way in which it happened and the way it was handled, and the way the BBC sort of wanted me to say that I was walking away from it.”
Barker said that she would “never walk away from a job I love”, adding: “I don’t mind being replaced. Absolutely fine. That happens. But... I think we regret the way it was handled. I think if we look back on it we could have handled it better. I think the BBC could have handled it better.
“It is just such a shame because I loved it. And I don’t look back on it badly just because of a couple of bad days and then some negative publicity, which I think affected quite a lot of people.”
Writing in her forthcoming autobiography Calling The Shots, Barker said that she, Dawson and Tufnell had been shown “so little respect” when their exits were announced that she refused to return to A Question of Sport.
“Unbelievably, they then offered me my job back, but as I couldn’t help but feel they didn’t want me anymore, I declined,” she wrote.
In July, Barker also announced her retirement from presenting the BBC’s Wimbledon coverage.
Additional reporting by Press Association.
