What did you miss?
Sue Barker and Phil Tufnell have spoken out on their feelings at being dropped from A Question of Sport, as they reunite for a live tour.
Barker spent 24 years hosting the former BBC sports quiz, but was replaced by Paddy McGuinness in 2021 with team captains Tufnell and Matt Dawson also axed. Now, the trio have announced they will go on tour in 2025 with the show A Question of…Live.
Speaking to This Morning, Barker said that they had not been impressed by “the way it was handled” when they left the TV show.
What, how, and why?
Sue Barker spent 24 years hosting A Question of Sport, so when the BBC quiz show replaced her with Paddy McGuinness it raised eyebrows amongst the show’s fans.
In 2020, it was announced that Barker was stepping down as host and McGuinness took over in 2021, while team captains Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell were replaced by Sam Quek and Ugo Monye, before it was axed completely last year.
Now, Barker, Tufnell and Dawson are reuniting for a live tour based on the format in 2025 and they shared their feelings about their time on the TV show coming to an end with This Morning on Tuesday.
Read more: Sue Barker
Host Ben Shephard said of their exit from the show: “It wasn’t necessarily how you would have chosen for it to end.”
Tufnell agreed: “No, for sure, but I think I just look at it as we had a fantastic time doing it. I was very lucky because I’d been on there about 10 or 11 times as a guest and then to be asked to captain it was a huge honour. I did it for 13 or 14 years, met these guys, had a great laugh. You can’t do it forever, can you?”
Barker added of the BBC: “It’s their show, they wanted to make changes and that’s absolutely fine. We totally accepted that, it was just the way it was handled. It’s all gone now and we’re back together.”
What else has Sue Barker said about leaving A Question of Sport?
Barker has previously spoken out about her feelings on her hosting role ending, and said that she had been uncomfortable with the suggestion that she should call it her choice.
She said on BBC Breakfast in 2022: “It is such a shame because, I have to say, that the BBC had told us we were going. They wanted to refresh the programme and that is absolutely fine. Everyone has the right to do that. We don’t own the programme.
“I had had 24 amazing years working with the most incredible people. So we knew it was going to happen and it was just the way in which it happened and the way it was handled – and the way the BBC sort of wanted me to say that I was walking away from it.
“And yet, I would never walk away from a job I love. I don’t mind being replaced. Absolutely fine. That happens … I think if we look back on it we could have handled it better. I think the BBC could have handled it better.
“It is just such a shame because I loved it. And I don’t look back on it badly just because of a couple of bad days and then some negative publicity, which I think affected quite a lot of people.”
This Morning airs on ITV1 at 10am on weekdays.
