{"id":16489,"date":"2022-06-06T17:21:39","date_gmt":"2022-06-06T15:21:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1655427"},"modified":"2022-06-06T17:45:09","modified_gmt":"2022-06-06T15:45:09","slug":"dan-walker-on-his-bbc-replacement-and-what-hes-bringing-to-channel-5","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/dan-walker-on-his-bbc-replacement-and-what-hes-bringing-to-channel-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Dan Walker on his BBC replacement and what he\u2019s bringing to Channel 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Lauren Morris\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 06 June 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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For most TV presenters, landing a permanent role on BBC Breakfast \u2013 frequently the most-watched show in its week day morning slot \u2013 is a career pinnacle, with few wanting to let go of that hotly-contested gig. In fact, many broadcasters have clung onto it for as long as possible, with Bill Turnbull hosting for 15 years, Sian Williams doing 11 and Louis Minchin managing nine, while Carol Kirkwood has been delivering early morning weather forecasts for over two decades.<\/p>\n

So it came as a rather big surprise to many in April when Dan Walker not only announced that he\u2019d be leaving BBC Breakfast after six years, but that he was quitting to join Channel 5\u2019s evening news programme<\/a> \u2013 something Walker admits he wouldn\u2019t have considered doing before now. \u201cIn my first meeting with Channel 5, we were really honest with each other,\u201d Walker tells RadioTimes.com<\/a> over Zoom. \u201cBen Frow \u2013 the boss \u2013 said, \u2018I wouldn\u2019t be in this meeting if I didn\u2019t really want you to work here,\u2019 and I said, \u2018Well, I probably wouldn\u2019t have been here three years ago if I\u2019m honest with you.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Channel 5 \u2013 they\u2019re doing some brilliant stuff and they\u2019re a really creative, impressive channel. They get a load of viewers for really good programmes and I like what they do with the news,\u201d he continues.<\/p>\n

While Walker begins his tenure on 5News tonight, it\u2019s the day after his BBC Breakfast leaving do when I speak to him via webcam. He\u2019d spent the evening eating doughnuts and drinking with his family, his colleagues, Alan Shearer and Jason Bell and although he wasn\u2019t presenting in the early hours of the morning, his first weekday lie-in in six years had to be put on hold. \u201cWe stayed in Manchester and then I had to get up really early with my wife to get the kids to school on time so we actually got up at stupid o\u2019clock this morning,\u201d he admits. \u201cBut the lie-ins will start now.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dan Walker on BBC Breakfast with Sally Nugent<\/span><\/figcaption> BBC<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Of course, the 5am starts are a very understandable reason for why you would leave a flagship breakfast programme to host an evening news show, but my first question was what we\u2019d all been wondering since the news first broke: why leave BBC Breakfast for Channel 5?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve done it for six and half years,\u201d Walker says. \u201cIn my entire career, I\u2019ve only stayed in jobs for 18 months maximum apart form two jobs \u2013 Football Focus and BBC Breakfast The reason why I stayed there is because I never felt like I was getting bored of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could have happily stayed there a lot longer but Channel Five came along. They sort of said, \u2018We think you\u2019re really good and we want you and these are the things we\u2019d like you to do,\u2019 and I don\u2019t think you often get in television the opportunity to not only do a news programme that you know you\u2019re going to love, but also to go away and make other telly every year of your contract. Like a guaranteed series or quiz or whatever it might be.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for other TV projects, Walker says he\u2019ll start exploring them once he\u2019s \u201cgot his feet under the news\u201d desk. \u201cThat\u2019s a really exciting prospect because I just love making telly. I\u2019m still excited every time I make any programme. I still love it when you walk into a studio to do a live show and I like making telly with nice people. It\u2019s a real privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n

While moving to Channel 5 gives Walker the opportunity to mix up his news reading style, he says he\u2019s not interested in the \u201cranty, shouty, look at me, I\u2019m asking all the really hard questions\u201d type of presenting. \u201cNews is very much under scrutiny at the minute. I think there\u2019s one style which is totally fact-based and quite harsh and clinical in a way, and then there\u2019s the other end of it, which is, \u2018Watch my programme because I\u2019ll give you my opinion on the news.\u2019 And I think I don\u2019t do either of those things.<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cI think in the middle is a sort of news with feeling, and an explanation to viewers of why something is important, why it matters to them, and how it\u2019s gonna affect their lives. A dialogue with your viewers, getting them to react to the story rather than just being told.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that I get to do that at breakfast, but I just thought, you know what, I love a challenge. And I went into Strictly Come Dancing<\/a> thinking I\u2019ll be here for three weeks and I was there for three months. I suppose that sort of thing opens your mind up to what you can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dan Walker on Strictly Come Dancing<\/span><\/figcaption> BBC<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Walker managed to complete a BBC Breakfast right of passage when he came in fifth place on last year\u2019s series of Strictly Come Dancing and while he\u2019s ticked that BBC show off his list, he hasn\u2019t ruled out returning to the broadcaster for other projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still able to work for other broadcasters and Channel 5 have been great about that so there\u2019s nothing to stop me from doing what other shave done like Clare Balding and Gabby Logan. The door is definitely not closed to the BBC and I\u2019ve spoken to the head honchos and they\u2019ve said the same thing. It\u2019s not a case of bridges being burned because I\u2019ve not left in that way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to slag the BBC off because I think the BBC do great things. I\u2019ve had a wonderful time at the BBC but that is something I\u2019d love to do \u2013 to go back and make another programme at the BBC whether it\u2019s sport or something else. I\u2019d love to keep doing the Olympics. We\u2019ll see what happens with that. I believe the phrase is ongoing negotiations,\u201d he says with a grin.<\/p>\n

Throughout his six years on BBC Breakfast, Walker has been a part of some of the show\u2019s most memorable moments \u2013 from organising a flypast in Sheffield for the 75th anniversary of a bomber crash to sorting out a Christmas tree for pensioner Terrence who\u2019d spent his last 20 Christmases by himself. However, the most significant day on the job for the broadcaster was after the May 2017 Manchester Arena bombing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a perfect example of a story that totally rocks the nation. It\u2019s your job to hold it all together and to tell that story responsibly and carefully and with kindness and getting the tone right and to be accurate and be fair,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The explosion happened at 10:30pm on a Monday night during an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, killing 22 people and injuring at least 119. Walker was the sole host on BBC Breakfast the following morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember watching the clock at 5:59 and 30 seconds. I was in the studio on my own, Louise [Minchin] was at the scene. I had no script, no autocue, nothing. All hell was breaking loose in my ear in the gallery and you just look at the clock ticking over and you think, \u2018This is it.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is why I\u2019ve done this job for 20 years. I\u2019ve got to do this right. People are waking up with their kids and you\u2019re telling them that 20 people at that time have died at a pop concert in Manchester and every word counts, every syllable is important, your face is important. It\u2019s such a huge responsibility to get that right and the whole breakfast team that day were amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dan Walker on Channel 5 News with co-host Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije<\/span><\/figcaption> Channel 5<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

Having been through a lot together, Walker says he told his co-host Sally Nugent that he was leaving BBC Breakfast before the official announcement. \u201cThere\u2019s this thing in the industry where the only people who care about these things really are the people who do it. I know people like watching Breakfast and that\u2019s lovely but I think it\u2019s a sort of navel gazing thing about who\u2019s presenting which show where, but I love the people I worked with and I\u2019m really good friends with Sally \u2013 I wouldn\u2019t want her to find out from anybody else.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told Sally what was happening and she had to keep it a secret for a bit. We had a really lovely chat about it and she totally understands as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walker isn\u2019t the only big name to leave the BBC over the past year, with the likes of Emily Maitlis quitting Newsnight and moving to LBC with Jon Sopel, Andrew Marr moving away from the broadcaster after two decades and Huw Edwards\u2019 recent plans to bid News at Ten farewell. What could be the reason behind this recent mass exodus? \u201cI can\u2019t speak for the others I all I can say is it\u2019s I\u2019m not running away from the BBC.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like, \u2018Oh, the BBC are so annoying, I\u2019ve got to get out.\u2019 That\u2019s never crossed my mind. For me, it\u2019s just a case of there\u2019s a real competition in the industry at the minute and the BBC are brilliant, and have been brilliant and will continue to be brilliant. I know there\u2019s all sorts of question marks about future funding models and that\u2019s not a decision for me \u2013 the BBC have got to look at what they do as other broadcasters have got to look at what they do as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to go to Channel 5, look around and go, \u2018Ha ha \u2013 BBC look at what you could have had.\u2019 That\u2019s not in my mind at all because I still wan to work at the BBC. I just love a new challenge and Channel 5 came along at just the right time for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds: \u201cThis is not the death of the BBC because the BBC is far bigger than me or Emily Maitlis or Jon Sopel or Andrew Marr and the BBC is going to continue to make brilliant programmes and I still have got loads of great friends there who will keep making brilliant TV which I and millions of other people will continue to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for who should replace him on BBC Breakfast<\/a>, Walker gives a diplomatic answer. \u201cI don\u2019t want to cause a political storm here,\u201d he jokes. \u201cI\u2019ve worked with Louise and I\u2019ve worked with Sally and what I had with those two remarkable women was somebody that I could trust, somebody that I loved working alongside, somebody that I knew and they knew that we had each other\u2019s backs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what I want for Sally. I want somebody who understands how big the programme is. If they can find somebody to tick all those boxes, and I\u2019m sure they will, then I think Sally and him or whoever it is they go for will have continued success on the number one breakfast show in the UK.\u201d<\/p>\n

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