Carol Vorderman has taken aim at “controversial decisions by BBC management” following the Huw Edwards scandal. The former Countdown star, 63, was given a standing ovation after she delivered the Alternative MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Friday. She described herself as having been on thousands of TV shows over decades, “sacked by the BBC – twice – pain in the arse, lover of parties, post-menopausal”, adding she was standing “in anger and without apology” at the media event.
Vorderman claims she was “sacked” by the corporation with “no conversation to be had” after it introduced new social media guidelines she did not agree with. Vorderman referenced former news presenter Edwards, who pleaded guilty to making child sex abuse images following him resignation from the BBC in April. The corporation was aware police had arrested him in August, during his his suspension over an unrelated matter.
She cited Match Of The Day host Gary Lineker’s tweets about the previous government’s immigration policy which lead to him briefly being removed from the programme, as well as the departure of BBC chairman Richard Sharp over questions about the former Goldman Sachs banker’s role in then-prime minister Boris Johnson getting an £800,000 loan guarantee. Vorderman also called television “a mess”, citing Ofcom figures that she said showed the “current decimation of broadcast television”. The media regulator’s research, published in J.