Football Focus dropped from schedule following Gary Lineker BBC fallout
There are reports Final Score will also not be going ahead today (11th March 2023).
Today's episode of Saturday staple Football Focus has been dropped from the schedules as the fallout from the BBC's decision to step down Gary Lineker from tonight's Match of the Day continues.
The news comes after presenter Alex Scott pulled out in solidarity with Lineker, who was judged to have breached BBC impartiality guidelines after making comments criticising the new Illegal immigration Bill earlier this week.
Former England international Scott took to Twitter this morning (Saturday 11th March) to write: "I made a decision last night that even though I love doing football focus and we have had an incredible week winning an SJA award that it just doesn’t feel right going ahead with the show today. Hopefully, I will be back in the chair next week..."
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Meanwhile, Final Score has also been removed from the schedules, with long-time presenter Jason Mohammad writing on Twitter that he would not be fulfilling his hosting duties today.
He wrote: "As you know, Final Score is a TV show very close to my heart. However - I have this morning informed the BBC that I will not be presenting the show this afternoon on BBC One."
Pundits set to appear on the programmes including Glenn Murray and Anita Asante had also informed the BBC they would not be taking part, and it appears the decision has been taken to take both shows off air.
RadioTimes.com reached out to the BBC for comment.
Read more:
- Gary Lineker to step back from hosting Match of the Day
- Who will present Match of the Day this weekend?
An extended episode of Bargain Hunt will now air on BBC One in the 12pm slot previously reserved for Football Focus, while The Repair Shop will now broadcast in place of Final Score, according to the BBC schedules.
BBC Radio 5 Live show Fighting Talk has also been pulled from Saturday's schedule, while the rest of the station's football coverage has also been removed. Presenter Colin Murray tweeted: "No Fighting Talk today, for obvious reasons. In the interest of transparency, this was a decision taken by the entire FT team and myself."
Following the decision to have Lineker step back from tonight's show, tonight's Match of the Day is now set to go ahead without any presenters or studio analysis after several high-profile pundits including Ian Wright and Alan Shearer revealed they would not be taking part.
A statement from a BBC spokesperson read: "Some of our pundits have said that they don’t wish to appear on the programme while we seek to resolve the situation with Gary.
"We understand their position and we have decided that the programme will focus on match action without studio presentation or punditry."
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Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
