Reverend Richard Coles ‘annoyed’ over BBC decision that led to Radio 4 exit: ‘You have no control’
Reverend Richard Coles ‘annoyed’ over BBC decision that led to Radio 4 exit: ‘You have no control’
Louis ChiltonFri, July 10, 2026 at 7:49 AM UTC
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Reverend Richard Coles (Tim P. Whitby / Getty Images for)
Reverend Richard Coles has criticised the BBC over the decision that cost him his job as a presenter on the Radio 4 series Saturday Live.
The former Communards musician and retired vicar co-hosted the interview programme for 12 years, between March 2011 and March 2023, until production moved from London to the BBC Cymru Wales New Broadcasting House in Cardiff.
Since 2025, Saturday Live, in which celebrity guests discuss two pieces of music, has been hosted by Adrian Chiles.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Coles said that he had been “annoyed” by the decision to relocate.
“You know what the BBC is like,” he said. “Someone in Wigan needs more paperclips so they move your show to Faversham or something. You have no control. But they could do better taking care of their talent.
He continued: “The BBC is fighting desperately to survive in some recognisable form in a very hostile environment. The funding model is poorly broken. There’ll be a lot of collateral damage along the way as they try to work out how to sustain it.”
The Independent has contacted the BBC for comment.
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Questions surrounding the BBC’s finances and funding model – which relies on the British public to pay the annual licence fee – have been a point of much debate in recent years.
Earlier this week, BBC director-general Matt Brittin said the corporation is “held back” by licence fee, a scheme that is “no longer fit for purpose”.
Brittin, a former boss at Google who took over from Tim Davie as head of the corporation seven weeks ago, made the comments before the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee during its inquiry into the BBC’s future.
Matt Brittin is the director-general of the BBC (Lucy North/PA) (PA Wire)
“The BBC is locked into yesterday’s model of consumption,” he said. “The licence fee is payable on linear television and iPlayer when the world’s moved on.
“Consumers are living in today’s world – or tomorrow’s world today – and so we need to look again at the mechanism for funding the BBC as part of the charter.”
Despite lingering dissatisfaction over the end of his time on Radio 4, Coles expressed a desire to continue working with the BBC, naming the Beeb’s popular reality series The Traitors as a dream assignment for himself.
“I adore reality formats,” he told the paper. “I would love to do The Traitors. Celebrity Traitors, civilian Traitors, any Traitors.”
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
