TV veteran shows little sympathy for former Countryfile presenter Miriam O'Reilly's call for more older female faces on screen
Miriam O'Reilly may have won her age discrimination case against the BBC. But she found little sympathy for the plight of older presenters at a TV industry conference on Friday, with broadcasting veteran Nick Ross arguing that he has "never worked with a minger".
The 63-year old former Crimewatch presenter paid short shrift to O'Reilly's talk of the need for more older female faces on British TV, arguing that being on screen is all about being young and attractive.
"Like it or not, TV is a lookism medium. The fact is that looks are important for boys and for girls," he said, speaking as part of a panel debate at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival. "In 40 years of TV I have never worked with a minger."
Ross, who in 2007 lost his presenting role on Crimewatch after 23 years amid suggestions his age might have been a factor, said that the "nature of the business" meant that older performers cannot live in a "gilded cage" when the industry is awash with youthful talent.
He pointed out that he landed his first network TV programme job aged 23 he took over from a presenter in his "late 60s".
Earlier this year O'Reilly, 53, won an ageism tribunal ruling against the BBC after it axed her from its flagship rural affairs show, Countryfile.
O'Reilly and three fellow female presenters were dropped from the show when Jay Hunt, then the controller of BBC1, moved it to Sunday prime time and hired two thirtysomething presenters in their place.
"The bottom line is we have got to see more older women on TV," she said. "They are not being given the opportunity."
However, despite the tribunal ruling O'Reilly found the Edinburgh panel stacked against her with the prevailing argument that broadcasters cannot be held hostage to having to employ older presenters as a result.
Former BBC1 controller Lorraine Heggessey, who has helped the careers of older talent bringing back Rolf Harris and choosing Bruce Forsyth to front Strictly Come Dancing, said it would be a "terrible day for TV" if producers became "quota driven" and had to "tick boxes".
"I worry about the implications and ramifications of the [tribunal] decision," she added. "Lets not overreact to this. We have enough forms to fill in at the moment. It will ruin the creativity that makes British TV great".
Heggessey said that she also would not have hired O'Reilly for the new-look Countryfile if she had still been in charge of BBC1.
"All the time in TV decisions are made that are subjective," she added. "I wouldn't have put you in prime time, I don't think you are right for it. [Changes] are always the result of a lot of discussion and this thing called gut feeling that something is not right. I don't think it is fair to say I wouldn't support older people on screen. I do understand why the creative people took the decision they did."
O'Reilly pointed out that it was the process the BBC went through ? or rather lack of it ? that she railed against, not her suitability for the role.
"I wasn't given the opportunity [to apply]," she said. "If [we] helped make the programme successful enough to move to prime time we should have been considered. We weren't. My career was over in six words: 'Her career is mostly radio, no'."
Kirsten O'Brien, the former BBC Children's presenter, asked what the tribunal ruling could mean if TV producers became fearful of making changes to older presenting line ups.
"There is a danger people [could become] frightened to move you on because they are frightened about what happened with Miriam [winning the tribunal ruling]," she said.
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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/aug/26/nick-ross-ageism-minger
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