Radio 5 Fighting Talk Podcast
BBC bosses had to apologise after Colin Murray’s live Fighting Talk show included a satirical piece where comic Bob Mills was asked to justify the argument “Give me 20 minutes with her and I'm pretty sure I could turn around Clare Balding.”
If the answer to these questions was no, then what on earth do you do for fun? If the answer was yes, however, then BBC Radio 5’s Fighting Talk is the radio show for you. Hosted by either Josh Widdicombe or Georgie Ainslie, depending upon the week, Fighting Talk sees four contestants battle it out for the spoils (pride, basically).
Mr Murray is now leaving the show following to take up a new role at talkSPORT.
The section, called the Defend the Indefensible, aired on BBC Radio 5 Live last month and saw Mills describe Balding as a 'horse woman' who 'appreciates power between her thighs.” It was cut from the iPlayer version of the show and a BBC spokeswoman admitted they had 'got it wrong' and it was 'inappropriate'.
A BBC spokesman said the show will now continue with a new presenter.
Clare Balding, 42, entered into a civil partnership with Radio Four announcer and newsreader Alice Arnold almost seven years ago.
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Clare Balding pictured with Alice Arnold (Rex)
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Mr Murray started his BBC career at Radio 1 and was dropped as host of Match of the Day Two at the end of last season and will be replaced by Mark Chapman. He will join talkSPORT next month.
He said: “I'm truly excited about creating this programme, and I hope it will become the morning 'go to' for UK sports fans. I will be joined by fascinating and knowledgeable guests every day offering up different opinions on issues and topics that you want to hear about throughout the week. I have thoroughly enjoyed working on my 5 Live shows and with the BBC team and look forward to continuing my relationship with BBC Sport TV and 6 Music.'
Radio 5 Live controller Jonathan Wall said: 'Colin leaves with our very best wishes having done such a good job on Fighting Talk over the last seven years, and on 5 Live Sport over the last four years, especially during the Olympics.'
BBC Radio 5 Live's Colin Murray panel game, Fighting Talk, will go on the road next month with its first live show.
The irreverent Saturday morning sporting quiz, now into its sixth series, will be broadcast live in front of an audience of around 300 people in Harrogate.
Its executive producer, Gregor Cameron, said he hoped it would be the first of a number of live editions of the Sony award-winning show.
The idea grew out of two editions of the programme produced for the last two Radio Festivals in Glasgow and Cambridge, which featured radio industry executives and were not broadcast to the public. A spin-off book, Fighting Talk, will also be published next month.
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'When you do a show in a dark room in the middle of the BBC you get no feedback from the audience whether they think it is funny or not,' said Cameron, who is also the managing director of the production company, World's End, that makes the 5 Live show.
'But at the radio festival we were really encouraged by the response. It was great to see it getting an immediate reaction from people.'
The live edition will be part of the Sporting Words festival in Harrogate on October 4, and will feature regular Fighting Talk panellists Martin Kelner, Jim White, Bob Mills and Will Buckley.
The show first aired in 2003, presented by World's End co-founder Johnny Vaughan. He was succeeded after the first series by Virgin Radio breakfast presenter Christian O'Connell for two seasons, before BBC Radio 1 DJ Murray took over.
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