A BBC radio breakfast show used to be the gig of a lifetime for a broadcast journalist. It’s not quite that simple for Naga Munchetty. Yesterday, she announced that after 17 years hosting BBC Breakfast on BBC One, in January she will take over from Rick Edwards and Rachel Burden on Radio 5 Live – an opportunity “simply too good to pass up”, as she put it, but also a tactical move from a position that had become untenable.
The writing has long been on the wall for Munchetty and BBC Breakfast. No matter that she was cleared of the bullying allegations that emerged last year, nor the rapport and respect between her and longtime co-host Charlie Stayt, nor that the programme is still in rude health, with 1.1m viewers watching daily.
A well-publicised rift with its editor Richard Frediani – himself accused by Munchetty of bullying, and also cleared – and being branded the kind of woman with vocal opinions on how Marmite is spread, or how well-fired her toast is, or how she likes her porridge (three of the allegations in the bullying case), meant she couldn’t last much longer on a programme that is supposed to ease Britain into the day with brightness and jollity.
Let’s face it: Munchetty is spiky. She’s not interested in doing the soft and cuddly fluff stuff, she’s opinionated, can be critical, and despite the lightness of touch the job demands, she makes no concessions in order to be “likeable”. A lot of the time, that’s fine – and demonstrates competence and resilience and all the qualities we are supposed to respect in women with high-octane careers.
