Bill Turnbull quits BBC Breakfast after 15 years
The journalist has hosted the morning show for a decade and a half but is leaving to spend more time with his bees
Bad news if you like a familiar face over your cornflakes – BBC Breakfast host Bill Turnbull is leaving the show in 2016, after hosting the morning stalwart for nearly 15 years.
Leading the tributes to Turnbull’s departure were his co-workers on BBC Breakfast, which he has worked at in some capacity since 1989 and hosted since 2001. During his time as an anchor, Turnbull has been paired with over a dozen female co-presenters including Sian Williams, Susanna Reid and Louise Minchin.
“I agreed to come North for two years and it went so well I agreed to do another two years,” he told The Mirror.
“That is coming to an end – by that time I will have been doing the show for nearly 15 years which is more than enough for me and the audience.
“So it is a good time to call it a day and do something else. It was a long term decision.”
But what will Bill be up to next? Well, apart from continuing with TV and radio work, he reportedly plans to spend more time with his wife Sarah, while also channelling the retirement plans of Sherlock Holmes and concentrating more on his beloved bees.
“I have been neglecting my bees for far too long. They are on a farm, they were going to come up here to the Lakes where we live but it was too windy. They are down in Buckinghamshire, I don’t see them very often but they don’t seem to mind!"
He concluded: “Certainly I am not looking forward to the last day because it will be a very emotional occasion.
"I am already trying to work out an anti-blubbing defence because that would be really awful to spill tears. But I know it will be a big day.”
