Huge BBC show 'faces axe' as broadcaster makes £500million cuts

Staff at one of the BBC ’s flagship news programmes are fearful that their show could be “axed” as part of extensive cost saving measures , reports claim.

With the BBC needing to make £500 million in savings over the next two years – and cut up to 2,000 jobs in the process – significant changes are being made at the broadcaster.

Now, staff at Newsnight have shared their worries that their show could be next for the chop entirely, The Sun reports.

A source told the publication: “Everyone is concerned for Newsnight and how it will fare in the next cuts.

The BBC is aiming to reduce costs by 10 per cent over the next three years Getty “We’ve been warned there are likely budget reductions and revisions next year. It’s a worrying time.”

The news programme, which was responsible for such landmark features as Emily Maitlis’s landmark 2019 interview with Prince Andrew , has already faced a significant number of cuts.

In 2023, the number of staff was more than halved from 57 to 23, with the special investigations team being cut entirely and the show reduced in length to half an hour . The BBC merged the production teams on Newsnight and Sunday with Laura Kunessberg in June.

Amid the BBC’s widely publicised need to save costs and a shift to focus on social media clips and BBC iPlayer, staff are said to be concerned that the show won’t make it.

The insider added that the BBC’s new director general, former Google boss Matt Brittin, “has made it clear that success is down to clicks”.

The programme was responsible for Prince Andrew’s car-crash 2019 interview about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein PA However, it’s not all doom and gloom at Newsnight. Come September, the show, which first launched in 1980, will be moving its Friday edition to a peak-time slot on BBC, which the BBC said would build on “the success of its refreshed format”.

A BBC spokesperson said: “We’re very proud of Newsnight’s success; since its reformat, it has significantly increased its audiences, won an RTS (Royal Television Society) award and is now being moved to a peak-time slot on Friday evenings.

“As we have said, the BBC needs to save £500m over the next three years and BBC News will play its part in contributing to those savings.”

EastEnders star Diane Parish hails ‘really important’ blood cancer storyline

Huge blow to David Mitchell as Ludwig star’s BBC show is AXED after three series