Dan Walker joins 5 News

[Hatton Cross]

And presumably moving to Channel 5 means having to move to London?

That's what I thought, but..
ITN do have a new and recently opened studio in the centre of Leeds - not that that far from Sheffield.

I know it's supposed to be for Channel 4 News usage, but if C4 get extra money off ITN/Viacom for its use - they wouldn't turn it down, would they?

[boddington]

Wow. Did not see this coming AT ALL. But best wishes to him of course, although I wasn’t his greatest fan on the sofa.

Jon Kay or Ben Thompson to replace him.

Like i've said, it looks like there will be an open recruitment process but - for my two pence - I wouldn't be surprised if it goes to a Channel 5 alumni...

Charlie Stayt.

[London Lite]

We know C5 have gone for ex Breakfast presenters before with Sian Williams, but I didn't expect Dan Walker to jump ship so quickly.

I don’t think six years, and many more in other roles, is quickly…

Six years on a show where presenters tend to stick around for years is relatively short in comparison.

[Brekkie]

We know C5 have gone for ex Breakfast presenters before with Sian Williams, but I didn't expect Dan Walker to jump ship so quickly.

I don’t think six years, and many more in other roles, is quickly…

Agree, although people do seem to stick around longer in such roles than they used too probably having seen previous hosts move on to supposedly bigger and better things which haven't turned out that way.

That said post-covid lockdowns we're seeing quite a few people making significant career changes which perhaps they wouldn't have made otherwise and not just at the BBC too - where I do think the unnecessary publication of individuals salaries and unprecedented pressure journalists seem to be under is undoubtedly a factor in some of the recent exits.

[Jon]

I wonder if Channel 5 are planning to make a play for sports rights? Given Dan's sports background, he could be used as the face of 5 Sport.

Realistically there isn’t anything going. And you don’t get sports rights based around the talent, the rights usually come first and you add your talent around them.

[ginnyfan]

Surprising but not that important news really. By this point it's clear the Breakfast gig is not among the top presenting jobs in the UK tv industry. The show will have the same high ratings no matter who is seated on the sofa. The salary probably can't match what they get on private tv which explains Walker's exit.

[JK1985]

On a side note, I am a bit confused to why someone on here said it was impossible for GMB to beat BBC Breakfast - why is this so?

When TV-am launched in Feb 1983, it of course was trounced in the ratings by the BBC, and people said then there was no hope for TV-am, however by autumn 1984, TV-am recovered ground, and come 1986 they were beating the BBC, leading BBC to reformat Breakfast Time into a more hard news format.

So why do people think GMB can never beat the BBC, and why is the attitude now that BBC Breakfast will always be No. 1?

Thank you

[DTV]

On a side note, I am a bit confused to why someone on here said it was impossible for GMB to beat BBC Breakfast - why is this so?

When TV-am launched in Feb 1983, it of course was trounced in the ratings by the BBC, and people said then there was no hope for TV-am, however by autumn 1984, TV-am recovered ground, and come 1986 they were beating the BBC, leading BBC to reformat Breakfast Time into a more hard news format.

So why do people think GMB can never beat the BBC, and why is the attitude now that BBC Breakfast will always be No. 1?

I'm not sure that anybody is suggesting that Breakfast will be No 1 forever, but they were just pointing out that Breakfast does well regardless of who the presenter is. A presenter leaving, not even to a rival Breakfast show, is not particularly likely to affect that balance.

[Brekkie]

This is where GMB not getting in a permanent co-host means Breakfast has a free run. Had they got a replacement in last year and then their rival lost both their male and female co-host in a matter of months they might have gained some momentum. But as they didn't they've not even given themselves a chance as Breakfast will just weather the loss of a presenter as they always do. This is where having them on a three day week rather than a five day week actually benefits them as viewers are as used to seeing the show without a certain presenter as they are with.

[Steve Williams]

So why do people think GMB can never beat the BBC, and why is the attitude now that BBC Breakfast will always be No. 1?

It was a bit different with TV-am in the early days, there wasn't the market there was now and it was a straight choice between one and the other. It's often been said that Roland Rat saved the station and it's no exaggeration, as what happened was that loads of kids started tuning in for Roland and their parents followed them - but of course it was a different era in those days when most households had one telly and all the family watched the same show.

But of course the big success for TV-am came later in the decade when the Beeb decided Breakfast Time wasn't distinctive enough and turned it into a hard news programme. That was too jarring a change and many of its regular viewers defected. And if there are big changes there will be some audience churn - one reason The Big Breakfast collapsed was because Evans left and there was an absolute chasm (although most of the audience didn't go to another breakfast TV show, they went to follow him to Radio 1).

But the breakfast market these days is pretty static, and there isn't much churn at all. These days there are a million and one things to watch in the mornings so it's now the case that most people watching Breakfast and Good Morning Britain are doing it because they want to watch those programmes. Although the press still like to hype it up, there isn't much audience crossover between the two programmes and if ratings go down it's usually because people are stopping watching breakfast TV altogether, not switching to the other side.

Most people at that time of day don't have time to be switching between the two programmes - they found what they liked a long time ago and stuck with it. And they'll stick with it until it stops offering what they want, and in the case of Breakfast Dan leaving won't have much impact - it's not a personality-led programme and it's the same show when Dan presents, when Charlie presents, when Ben presents and so on.

That's not to say Breakfast can churn out any old rubbish and the audience will sit through it because if standards dropped hugely they'd switch off. But it has a loyal audience and if it continues to offer the same mix they enjoy, why would they look elsewhere? They're busy people.

This is where GMB not getting in a permanent co-host means Breakfast has a free run. Had they got a replacement in last year and then their rival lost both their male and female co-host in a matter of months they might have gained some momentum. But as they didn't they've not even given themselves a chance as Breakfast will just weather the loss of a presenter as they always do. This is where having them on a three day week rather than a five day week actually benefits them as viewers are as used to seeing the show without a certain presenter as they are with.

Well, yes, the benefit of this set-up is that it gives you huge flexibility and the show isn't totally reliant on a single presenter and when they go it's a disaster. Chris Evans is the obvious example there. And especially on Breakfast there's a family of other hosts who all appear regularly enough to be familiar. The One Show is another example.

[GraemeT]

Huw edwards for breakfast would be great - always feel he’s got a personality which has never been allowed to shine

[Brekkie]

Huw is more likely to be poached by GMB than to shift himself to Breakfast at the BBC. The former would likely see a significant pay day - the latter be seen as a demotion.

It's what C5 do that will be interesting. I think Dan is a good signing for them but if they just put him into Sian's role and make no other changes it will be a missed opportunity. The rebrand late last year was pretty underwhelming, so at the very least making it all a bit punchier and perhaps bringing in some of the sofa style relationship Dan had with his Breakfast co-hosts to the hour long format should be on the cards. I think C5 has the luxury to be able to play with the format a bit airing for an hour at 5pm.

[Spencer]

Personally, and I really don’t think it’s going to happen, but I’d love to see Clive Myrie on Breakfast.

Having seen him recently hosting HIGNFY, and standing in for Sophie Raworth on Sunday Morning, it’s clear that he’s more than just a great newsreader and outstanding reporter, but he’s got a lot of warmth and humour and is also a superb interviewer who genuinely seems interested in his guests. I’d switch back from GMB to Breakfast in a shot if they got him on.

(Yes, maybe I have got a bit of a man-crush on him - what of it?!)

[Worzel]

Another surprise.

For me, moving Charlie Stayt to the beginning of the week and hiring to there seems the logical move?

Personally I'd love to see someone like Adam Fleming or Christian Fraser on Breakfast.

Would Chris Mason go for it? Although he's being touted for the Political Editor role.

[boddington]

Another surprise.

For me, moving Charlie Stayt to the beginning of the week and hiring to there seems the logical move?

Personally I'd love to see someone like Adam Flemming or Christian Fraser on Breakfast.

Would Chris Mason go for it? Although he's being touted for the Political Editor role.

I agree with this. I'd move Charlie Stayt to the front end of the week, given that you have someone relatively "new" in Sally Nugent co-hosting (new as in the lead presenter role, rather than her many years presenting the sport slots), just to lend that bit of stability / gravitas to proceedings. Then have Dan's replacement - whether that's Jon Kay or Roger Johnson or Ben Thompson, or someone else - paired with Naga for Thursday - Saturday.

That's assuming we don't get Charlie and Naga announcing their departures as well any time soon. The way things are going with people leaving the BBC left, right and centre, nothing is surprising any more.