'We were toast' Sue Barker predicted her Question Of Sport exit after spotting new creative director
Sue Barker knew she was finished on 'Question Of Sport' when she spotted a new creative director sitting in the show's green room.
The 67-year-old broadcaster hosted the BBC show for 24 years from 1997 to 2021 before being let go along with her team captains, Phil Tufnell and Matt Dawson, but the star predicted their time on the programme was coming to an end.
Speaking about the show’s revamp - which included Paddy McGuinness taking over hosting duties from Sue - she told talkSPORT: "It was too painful to really watch it and understand what they were doing.
“But I remember saying to Tuffers [Phil Tufnell] and Daws [Matt Dawson] after they brought in this creative director when they were revamping shows and we saw him sitting in our green room and I said, ‘That’s it, we’re toast.'
"I knew that it was going to be time to revamp it, but some shows don’t need too much."
Last week, the BBC confirmed the programme - which began in 1970, following a 1968 pilot episode - is "not in production at the moment".
When asked if the show could've been saved, Sue said: "I don’t know, probably.
"Maybe if they kept the familiar rounds, maybe they tried to change too much, I don’t know.
"The familiar rounds, although we updated them and evolved it, we never changed the core of the show right the way from David Coleman."
David presented the programme from 1979 to 1997.
Last week, it was revealed the sports quiz show had stopped production after more than five decades on air.
The BBC explained that the decision was taken because of "inflation and funding challenges", but a spokesperson for the broadcaster also insisted it was "not the final whistle" for the series.
The spokesperson explained that the programme was "not being cancelled - it is just not in production at the moment".
The situation has been compared to 'The Weakest Link', the long-running TV game show which has had gaps in production.
The spokesperson added: "'Question of Sport' is not going to appear on any other channels. It is the BBC's intellectual property."
