BBC ageism: Presenter allegedly told you’ll have to watch the wrinkles...
COUNTRYFILE presenter Miriam O’Reilly was warned to “be careful about those wrinkles” nine months before she was axed from the programme, a tribunal heard yesterday.
The award-winning journalist is suing the BBC for sex and age discrimination after losing her job when the show was moved to a prime-time slot.
Miss O’Reilly, 53, told how she was described as a “rare species” and was told to consider having Botox treatments and asked if she wanted to use a can of black hair dye.
She said Countryfile’s director Dean Jones “sent a shiver down my spine” when he warned her the introduction of high definition television would be “crunch time” for her BBC TV career.
The case is the latest in a series of controversies surrounding the corporation about the way women are treated once they reach a certain age.
Miss O’Reilly, who worked for the BBC for 25 years, said she was sacked from Countryfile in 2008 after she was told programme makers wanted to “refresh” the series.
She told the central London hearing she was sidelined by the BBC and has struggled to find work since.
In a statement she said: “I do not believe that a man would be asked about his wrinkles nor offered hair dye.
“It was clear to me that this was a reflection of the BBC’s view that women on TV needed to look young.”
Miss O’Reilly was told she would no longer be working on the rural affairs programme in November 2008.
She said she was “devastated” to lose her job when the show relaunched in April 2009 with Julia Bradbury, then 38, and Katie Knapman, then 36.
Three other female Countryfile presenters, Michaela Strachan, 44, Juliet Morris, 45, and Charlotte Smith, 44, were also dropped from the show.
Veteran presenter John Craven, 70, survived the cull.
Miss O’Reilly said: “It seemed to me that it was just the women who had to be ‘refreshed’, not the men.”
Yesterday the panel considering the case was shown footage from the rural affairs programme to assess Miss O’Reilly’s presenting skills and compare them with the new reporters.
The mother of two insisted she was perfectly capable of continuing working on the series and told how she had jumped in and out of helicopters, climbed 60ft trees in the dark and took part in cheese-rolling to demonstrate her physical fitness.
She said: “Just after my fiftieth birthday I was working with a cameraman who said I must be a ‘rare species’ in TV.
“I was conscious of my age, as the production team were on the whole a lot younger.
“In about February 2009 I was working with the Countryfile director, Dean Jones. We were travelling in a car to our filming location and I was applying some make-up when he said something which literally sent a shiver down my spine.
“He said, ‘You’re going to have to be careful about those wrinkles when high definition comes in’.
“He said that would be ‘crunch time’ for my BBC career.”
Miss O’Reilly, who worked on the programme for seven years, said she knew this had “the ring of truth” because of the “ageist attitude” at the BBC.
She continued: “When I was on location in or about June 2008 the cameraman, Jim Fynes, who was aware that this was being made into an issue, produced a can of black spray dye, and asked if I wanted to use it.
“He was trying to be helpful but I declined. I don’t think a man would have been treated in this way.”
In March 2008, Miss O’Reilly confided her fears to another director of the programme Louise Pyne, who allegedly told her: “It’s time for Botox’.
The tribunal, expected to last 12 days, is likely to hear from former BBC controller Jay Hunt and other senior executives. The BBC denies any wrong-doing.
