It seems cuts at the BBC have resulted in a certain long-running programme getting the chop.
The BBC has announced that it’s axing consumer rights series Watchdog, which has run for 40 years.
But it’s not all bad news – the show isn’t leaving our screens completely, it will just cease to exist in its current format.
The show – which has aired more than 1,000 episodes – will continue as a segment on The One Show, starting in the spring.
It seems Matt Allwright and Nikki Fox will stay on as presenters, investigating and exposing companies and fraudsters who rip off members of the public.
Watchdog began in 1980 as a vertical of Nationwide, but the show proved to be so popular that it became a separate programme in 1985. It usually ran with two separate series a year.
Nick Ross and husband and wife John Stapleton and Lynn Faulds Wood were just a few names to present the show, alongside former Weakest Link host Anne Robinson.
Watchdog will become a segment on The One Show in the spring (Getty)
Carla-Maria Lawson, the Head of Daytime and Early Peak at the BBC, said, “Watchdog has been tenaciously fighting for viewers rights since the strand started 40 years ago within Nationwide.
“So it’s fitting that in its anniversary year we are able to open up the potential for viewers to connect with the brand through The One Show.”
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Rob Unsworth, Editor of The One Show, added, “Bringing the quality, investigative journalism of the much-loved and trusted Watchdog brand to viewers year-round is an exciting move and a great opportunity for The One Show; and means that more than ever the team can react on behalf of consumers whenever stories come up.”
The news comes as the BBC makes extreme cutbacks. Last month, it was reported that 450 jobs would be cut across news programmes, as part of the broadcaster’s enormous £80m savings drive.
Watchdog is the latest programme to be cut, following the axing of The Victoria Derbyshire show on BBC Two.
