The BBC has confirmed it has axed the in-depth interview programme HARDtalk after almost 30 years.
It has also revealed that it is looking to reduce more than 100 news roles at the broadcaster.
On Tuesday (October 15), the BBC said that HARDtalk which usually runs Monday to Thursday will shut in March 2025, after it first aired in 1997.
It has seen former president of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? star Major Charles Ingram, late Venezuela leader Hugo Chavez, Russian foreign affairs minister Sergey Lavrov, and ex-president of the FIA Max Mosley grilled.
“The decisions by companies are sort of running ahead of where states are, with all the consequences thereof”
— BBC HARDtalk (@BBCHARDtalk) October 15, 2024
Cyber policy expert Marietje Schaake says powerful Silicon Valley companies have created technologies “without any consideration of what it might mean for geopolitics” pic.twitter.com/qzbnDGn4ox
Stephen Sackur, one of the journalists who has hosted the show has since broken his silence about the "sad news".
He wrote on X, formerly Twitter: “This is sad news for me personally, but much more important, I think it’s depressing news for the BBC and all who believe in the importance of independent, rigorous, deeply-researched journalism.
“At a time when disinformation and media manipulation are poisoning public discourse, HARDtalk is unique – a long-form interview show with only one mission, to hold to account those who all too often avoid accountability in their own countries.”
Sackur said he had been “enormously fortunate to pursue my journalism within the BBC”, and was looking at new opportunities for next year.
BBC's Highest Paid Stars 2023/24
BBC Radio 4 Today programme presenter Mishal Husain, who has presented HARDtalk, wrote: “It’s been my privilege to see the dedication and focus of the outstanding Hardtalk team, led by (editor) Lisa Baxter, when I’ve worked with them.
“Thoughts with all affected by today’s (Tuesday's) announcements.”
Recommended reading:
- ITV channels 'no longer available' on TV boxes from this week - see those affected
- Rob Brydon revealed as host for new BBC adventure game show Destination X
- Mrs Brown's Boys creator Brendan O’Carroll apologises for ‘clumsy’ racial joke
A BBC spokeswoman said HARDtalk “has done great work” but “some tough decisions” are being made due to the need for savings and how people watch news programming.
They added: "People are coming to our news channel for live and breaking news, while across the whole of BBC News we have hard-hitting long-form interviews and discussion on more platforms than ever, for instance via our global on-air editors and our debate and discussion programmes.
“We can no longer afford to run so many bespoke programme teams.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel