After the BBC’s announcement of the salaries of its top stars this morning, attention has focused on disparities between the pay of actors, presenters and journalists, often by gender. Analysis of the salaries of key talent at some of the corporation’s highest profile radio and television shows underlines the differences.
The BBC points out that it is difficult to make like-for-like comparisons. Some stars may be paid more than the list indicates because some of their income is received via a production company or BBC Worldwide, which generates commercial revenues. For example, Graham Norton’s income from the Graham Norton Show is not included in the list because it is not produced in-house.
Other disparities may in part be accounted for in the amount of work done for the BBC by the stars in question. For example, BBC Breakfast host Dan Walker, who appears on the list earning more than £200,000, when his colleague Louise Minchin does not, pointed out on Twitter that the figure includes his pay for Football Focus and that the two earn the same for the breakfast show.
But critics will say that those caveats do not account for the overwhelming disparity across the board, with only a third of the 96 top earners female and the top seven all male.
Here’s a breakdown of salaries for people at some of the BBC’s flagship shows.
The Today programme, BBC Radio 4
The flagship programme is broadly considered to be the most influential news programme in Britain and often sets the political agenda of the day. It has seven regular presenters, only one of whom did not make the BBC list – Sarah Montague – which means she was not on a salary of £150k or more in the year covered. One explanation given for that was that she earns less than Justin Webb because she works fewer shifts. There was also speculation that she has since had a pay rise.
When asked about Today, director-general Tony Hall said that “it would be wrong to say that the lowest-paid member of the presenting team was a woman”, but did not elaborate. The highest paid is certainly John Humphrys, who earns more than £600,000, around three times what his colleague Mishal Husain is paid.
John Humphrys – £600k to £649k
Nick Robinson – £250k to £299k
Evan Davis – £250k to £299k
Mishal Husain – £200k to £250k
Justin Webb – £150k to £199k
Strictly Come Dancing, BBC One
The dancing contest is one of the most popular shows in Britain, averaging 10.96 million viewers per episode in its last series. In the year covered, the show was hosted by Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman with four judges, who, according to the data released, are paid differing amounts.
Claudia Winkleman, co-host – £450k to £499k
Tess Daly, main host – £350k to £399k
Len Goodman, head judge – £200k to £250k
Bruno Tonioli, judge – £200k to £250k
Darcey Bussell, judge – £150k to £199k
Craig Horwood, judge – £150k to £199k
EastEnders, BBC One
The soap opera is one of the BBC’s longest-running shows and has been on air since 1985. An episode of the show, set in the fictional east London neighbourhood of Walford, is shown every day except Wednesday and weekends. After the figures came out many noted that the BBC’s highest-paid actor on the list was not an EastEnders star but Derek Thompson, who plays Charlie Fairhead in hospital drama Casualty and earns between £350,000 and £400,000 a year.
Adam Woodyatt (Ian Beale) – £200k to £249k
Danny Dyer (Mick Carter) – £200k to £249k
Lacey Turner (Stacey Slater) – £150k to £199k
Gillian Taylforth (Kathy Beale) – £150k to £199k
Diane Parish (Denise Fox) – £150k to £199k
Scott Maslen (Jack Branning) – £150k to £199k
Linda Henry (Shirley Carter) – £150k to £199k
Letitia Dean (Sharon Watts) – £150k to £190k
Laurie Brett (Jane Beale) – £150k to £190k
BBC News programmes, BBC One
The news programmes on BBC One are Breakfast, News at One, News at Six and News at Ten. Huw Edwards is by far the highest earner listed, earning around four times as much as his colleague Sophie Raworth.
Huw Edwards (BBC News at Ten) – £550k to £599k
Fiona Bruce (BBC News at Six on Fridays) – £350k to £399k
Dan Walker (BBC Breakfast) – £200k to £249k
George Alagiah (BBC News at Six) – £250k to £299k
Naga Munchetty (BBC Breakfast) – £150k to £199k
Sophie Raworth (BBC News at One) – £150k to £199k
