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Moore rants at women 'controlling BBC'

08/05/2007

Astronomer and Sky at Night presenter Patrick Moore has said the problem with the BBC is that it is "run by women".

Talking to the Radio Times, Moore said the shows now on the BBC were basically "soap operas, cooking, quizzes [and] kitchen sink plays" and that this wouldn't have happened in the "golden days".

Moore was disgruntled earlier this year when the 650th episode of Sky at Night was graced with the 01:55 BST slot on BBC2.

The famous astronomer attacked the programmes that do get prime-time slots, even taking aim at the BBC's flagship success story, the revamped Doctor Who.

"I used to watch Doctor Who and Star Trek, but they went PC - making women commanders, that kind of thing. I stopped watching," he told the magazine.

Female news presenters didn't avoid his wrath either as Moore suggested that women couldn't read the news and men were far better.

He said: "These jokey women are not for me. There was one day (in 2005) when BBC news went on strike. Then we had the headlines read by a man, talking the Queen's English, reading the news impeccably."

Moore's improbable solution to the problem he has identified would be to launch two separate channels, one run by women and another solely for him, run by men.

"I would like to see two independent wavelengths - one controlled by women, and one for us, controlled by men. I think it may eventually happen," Moore said.

The TV presenter was listed in the Guinness Book of Records recently as the longest-serving TV presenter for his various astronomy shows produced since the mid 1950s.


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