Stars axed 'because BBC1 boss hated women'

By Emily Andrews for MailOnline
Updated: 09:07 EDT, 6 November 2010

Four female presenters were sacked from Countryfile because the controller of BBC1, Jay Hunt, 'hated women', a tribunal was told yesterday.

Suing: O'Reilly accusing BBC of sex and age discrimination

Miriam O'Reilly, 53, is suing the BBC for sex and age discrimination after she and three other women in their 40s and 50s were dropped from the flagship rural affairs show.

She has already claimed she was warned to be 'careful about those wrinkles', advised to consider Botox and offered black hair dye to mask an area of her scalp which bosses mistakenly thought were her 'white roots'.

Michaela Strachan, then 42, Juliet Morris, then 52, and Charlotte Smith, then 44, were also removed from the show ahead of its prime-time Sunday night relaunch in April 2009.

Instead the BBC appointed Matt Baker, then 30, and Julia Bradbury, then 38, as Countryfile's new presenters.

Under cross-examination at the Central London Employment Tribunal, Miss O'Reilly was asked about what fellow presenter Juliet Morris had felt.

She said: 'I had a conversation with Juliet Morris this year and she said that the decision to drop us women was ageist and she said that it was because Jay Hunt hated women.' Miss Hunt, who is due to leave the BBC to take up the post of chief creative officer at Channel 4, was present at the tribunal looking grim-faced.

Asked if she believed Miss Hunt, 43, would have discriminated against a woman in her 40s, Miss O'Reilly replied that she did. Earlier in her witness statement mother-of-two Miss O'Reilly said Countryfile director Dean Jones told her to be careful about wrinkles after the introduction of high-definition television.

She also said producer Louise Pyne asked whether it was 'time for Botox' while cameraman Jim Fynes allegedly offered her a can of black spray dye to cover a 'white gap' on her head.

Cross-examining, the BBC's lawyer Jason Galbraith-Marten accused Miss O'Reilly of 'embellishing' her evidence.

He said: 'This wasn't a manager telling you to get Botox to save your career, this was a friend.

'She is a friend of yours. This was a chat with a friend about Botox.'

Miss O'Reilly replied: 'I was talking with Louise about the culture of ageism.' Mr Galbraith-Marten then suggested the 'white gap' on her hair parting was a 'bald patch' and her colleagues were trying to avoid presenting her in an unflattering way.

She replied: 'I do not have a bald patch. It's just the way my hair falls. It's a double crown. They used to colour it in in the edit. I don't want someone in the editing suite colouring in the back of my head. I would have preferred for them to leave me as I naturally am. I became very embarrassed and conscious of this.'

Looking upset she said her 'career was in tatters' after she was dropped from Countryfile.

A BBC spokesman said: 'Jay Hunt has been instrumental in the success of many women's television careers including Sheila Hancock, Anne Robinson, Alex Jones, Rosa Monckton and Fiona Bruce.

'In fact, Jay Hunt gave Juliet Morris one of her most recent jobs presenting Uncharted Territory.'

The hearing continues.