Simon Mayo slams 'soul destroying' BBC for 'making talent jump through hoops'

Former BBC star Simon Mayo has slammed the corporation as “soul-destroying”.

Alongside film critic Mark Kermode, the 63-year-old presenter hosted Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review across a number of BBC radio channels for more than 20 years.

The pair have since decamped to Sony to present a twice-weekly podcast called Kermode & Mayo’s Take.

Speaking recently, Simon revealed the move was designed to “make [the show] better”.

Alleging that any project he and Mark suggested would have “no chance” of being greenlit by the BBC today as they are two middle-aged men, he also accused the broadcaster of “making people jump through hoops” to get projects greenlit.

Simon told Radio Times: “When Sony come along and say, ‘we will invest in this programme in a way that it hasn’t been invested in so far’ you think, ‘that’s interesting’.

“For instance, we did a very successful short-film competition called Well Done U.

“The quality of the entries was brilliant, but there are so many BBC hoops to jump through to actually get something like that on the air that after a while people stop trying, because it’s soul destroying.”

He now hopes the presenting duo will be able to bring the competition back.

During the interview, Simon further criticised the broadcaster for challenging his efforts to release his former BBC series as a ‘podcast’ rather than a ‘download’.

He left his full-time BBC Radio 2 presenting role for Scala Radio in 2019.

Of his former employer, Simon added that there would be “no chance” of he and Mark being asked to do a “new film show” on the BBC.

Daily Star has approached BBC for comment.

The radio star’s comments follow the beeb losing a number of its biggest stars over the previous 12 months.

In a wide-scale departure of experience presenters, the past year has seen stars including Emily Maitlis, Andrew Marr, Jon Sopel, Simon McCoy and Dan Walker announce their departure from the broadcaster.

Earlier this year, the 45-year-old BBC Breakfast star revealed he would be departing the programme after six years to join Channel 5’s revamped 5News team.

On Tuesday, Dan afforded viewers of the programme even more details of his last days with the BBC.

The Strictly Come Dancing alum confirmed his final day on the programme will be Tuesday, May 17.

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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk