Fi Glover has been handed the toughest job in radio - taking over the late John Peel's Home Truths slot on Radio 4. But if anyone can make a success of it, then it's Glover.
The diminutive Glover (you can't tell this on the wireless) made her name as the host of Radio 5 Live's late night phone-in and presents Radio 4's Broadcasting House on Sunday mornings. Well, she doesn't at the moment because she's on maternity leave.
But in solving the problem of how to replace Home Truths, Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer has created another headache for himself - who now to replace Glover on Broadcasting House? Matthew Bannister and Paddy O'Connell have both stood in for her on BH. Or should it be someone else?
Glover cut her broadcasting teeth on the breakfast show on GLR - now BBC London - and won a legion of fans with her mixture of "serious journalism and subtle satirical and sarcastic comment". Radio Five Live's late-night phone-in has never been the same since she left.
After an ill-fated six months in charge of Radio 5's morning phone-in, she took a break from radio to write a book before switching to Broadcasting House in 2004.
Radio 4 listeners mourned the passing of Home Truths almost as much as they did the death of John Peel. They will presumably be relieved that a permanent replacement for the show has finally been identified. But is Glover the right choice? Not everyone agrees.
"That's no Radio 4 for me on Saturday mornings... will have to find something else to listen to whilst doing the washing," says this contributor to the Radio 4 message boards. Malcontent.
