Angela Rippon has revealed that a BBC boss told her to quit TV to “make way for younger women” when she was 50, labelling the suggestion “a very misogynistic thing to say”.
The veteran star, now 81, started her career at the broadcaster in the 1970s and became the first female journalist given a permanent role fronting the BBC’s national Nine O’Clock News in 1975.
She then went on to host the first two series of Top Gear, ballroom competition Come Dancing and Antiques Roadshow.
But in a new interview, Rippon details what happened in the early nineties, when – at the age of 50 – she “had a problem with one of the controllers of one of the departments who had taken me off certain programs I was doing at the time”.
Appearing on Kate Thornton’s White Wine Question Time podcast, she explains: “I lost two quite important programmes that I was presenting at the time.
“And I vaguely knew John Birt who was then the Director-General so I went to see him and said, ‘look I'm having these problems, what can you as the director-general do about it?’”
Rippon continued: “He said, ‘well I can't really do anything, but Angela I think you have to accept that you've had your day and it's time to make way for the younger women coming up behind you.’”
The presenter said she asked Birt “if he was having the same conversation with Terry Wogan or Michael Parkinson and reeled off men who were a lot older than me”.
“Of course he wasn't,” she continued. “It was a very misogynistic thing to say and as it turned out it was a very inaccurate thing to say as I am now 81 and I'm still here.”
The Independent has connected the BBC and John Birt, who is now in the House of Lords, for comment.
After losing some of her BBC shows in the Nineties, Rippon continued to work with the broadcaster. In 2023, she became Strictly’s oldest-ever contestant when she took part in the competition at the age of 79.
The BBC has faced numerous ageism accusations over the years and in 2025, four female news presenters reached a settlement with the corporation after claiming they lost their BBC News Channel roles after a “rigged” recruitment process.
Martine Croxall, Annita McVeigh, Karin Giannone and Kasia Madera said in a statement: “We can confirm that we have reached a resolution with BBC management that avoids the need for a tribunal hearing in respect of our employment-related claims.
"A protracted process lasting almost three years is now over. We've been deeply moved by the support we've received.”
A BBC statement said: “After careful consideration we have reached a resolution which brings to an end protracted legal proceedings with four members of staff and avoids further costs for the BBC.
"In doing so we have not accepted any liability or any of the arguments made against the BBC. We are simply bringing to a close all of the actions brought against us so that all involved can move forward."
In 2023, presenter Caryn Franklin claimed she had been dropped from the popular fashion programme The Clothes Show in the mid-1990s for looking “too old” and in 2022, 63-year–old Liz Kershaw was replaced on BBC 6 Music by Jamz Supernova, who was 31.
Kershaw posted on X at the time: “I got sacked from @BBC6Music because they don’t want women over 60.”
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