Former BBC director general George Entwistle will reunite with his ex-Newsnight colleague Jeremy Paxman on Channel 4’s general election night programme, Entwistle’s first major TV role since his exit from the corporation three years ago.
Entwistle will be an executive producer on the 7 May programme after it is understood that Paxman asked for the former Newsnight editor to be involved.
Paxman, a strong supporter of Entwistle, spoke up for him in the aftermath of his resignation from the BBC at the height of the Jimmy Savile scandal, saying he had been “brought low by cowards and incompetents”.
He described Entwistle as “a talented man [who] has been sacrificed while time-servers prosper” and said he “had hoped that George might stay to sort this out”.
Paxman had previously described him as a “clever, erudite; a man, critically, who reads books, a man with a sense of humour and a great degree of irreverence, not least about the BBC. I like him”.
It marks Entwistle’s first significant return to the small screen since his resignation as director general after 54 days in the job in November 2012.
Insiders said Entwistle was delighted to be involved. “He has rolled his sleeves up and has been really enjoying it, acting in a very un-director general way,” said a source.
Channel 4’s creative director Jay Hunt, a former editor of the One O’Clock and Six O’Clock News on BBC1, is also a former colleague of Entwistle at BBC News.
Paxman, who stepped down from Newsnight last year after 25 years on the BBC2 programme, will front Channel 4’s Alternative Election Night programme with David Mitchell. Its coverage will also include a special election edition of Channel 4’s Gogglebox.
Entwistle’s role will put him head to head with the BBC, whose general election night programme will be fronted by David Dimbleby, for the last time, with Huw Edwards taking over the anchoring of its coverage the following morning.
Entwistle, who edited Newsnight between 2001 and 2004, was given a £450,000 payoff by the BBC after his resignation following a calamitous interview with John Humphrys on Radio 4’s Today programme.
He was the corporation’s shortest serving director general, MPs later accused the BBC of “rewarding failure” following his departure.
Other presenters on the Channel 4 show will include Richard Osman, presenter on BBC1’s Pointless.
“The aim is to tell the whole story and to tell it in an entertaining way,” Paxman has said.
“I’m not preparing any [comic] sketches, but there are some monologues about voting, about Scotland, what’s wrong with politics. And one or two bits of telly on the night that will involve the three of us.
“Elections matter. But that doesn’t mean the coverage has to be dull. I hope there’ll be room for both insight and laughter.”
