Sue Barker, Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell all leaving A Question of Sport in major shake-up

BBC/Vishal Sharma
Patrick Grafton-Green21 September 2020

Sue Barker is leaving A Question Of Sport after 23 years as part of a major shake-up at the programme.

Team captains Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell will also depart the long-running sports quiz show.

Former professional tennis player Barker, 64, took over as presenter from commentator David Coleman in 1997.

Former England rugby player Dawson, 47, and ex-international cricketer Tufnell, 54, have led their teams on the show for 16 and 12 years respectively.

The trio will appear in one more series together
BBC/Vishal Sharma

Their final series together will be broadcast next year.

A BBC spokeswoman said: “We would like to thank Sue for her enormous contribution as the show’s longest reigning host over the last 23 years, and Matt and Phil for their excellent team captaincy over 16 and 12 years respectively.

Sue Barker presented the show for 23 years
BBC/Vishal Sharma

“Together they have ensured A Question of Sport remains a firm favourite with the BBC One audience.

“Sue, Matt and Phil’s final series will be broadcast next year.”

Phil Tufnell has been one of the team captains for 12 years
BBC/Vishal Sharma

The new presenter and team captains have not been announced.

Referred to by the BBC as “the world’s longest running TV sports quiz”, the first edition of A Question Of Sport aired in January 1970.

Matt Dawson has led his team for 16 years
BBC/Vishal Sharma

The move comes weeks after the BBC’s director-general Lord Hall was succeeded in the role by Tim Davie, the former chief executive of commercial arm BBC Studios.

Reporting by PA Media

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in