Telegraph article: "Bill Oddie is not amused by his treatment at BBC"
19/09/2011 17:17 GMT

Posted by lisa

The following article appeared on The Telegraph's website Saturday, 17 September.

From http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/8769235/Bill-Oddie-is-not-amused-by-his-treatment-at-BBC.html


Bill Oddie is not amused by his treatment at BBC
Bill Oddie, the former Springwatch presenter, is disappointed by the 'lack of communication' at the BBC.



Tim Walker. Edited by Richard Eden.
7:30AM BST 17 Sep 2011

Like Victoria Wood and Alan Davies before him, Bill Oddie, the former Springwatch presenter, is upset by his treatment at the “impersonal” BBC.

“I’ve found the lack of communication disappointing,” he tells Mandrake. “I’ve got plenty of ideas and I’ve discussed one or two of them, but it’s not up to me. They could have called me and said: 'Let’s have a chat about things.’   ”

The naturalist, 70, who became famous as one of The Goodies, was replaced on Springwatch by Chris Packham, 50. “I don’t know if age plays a role, but I have begun to wonder,” he says of his prospects at the BBC.

“It’s all quite impersonal; it feels like there’s people on one level who don’t really know what the other level has done for them.”

Speaking at a party for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society aboard HMS Belfast on the Thames, he adds: “The BBC doesn’t feel as nice as it once did. I think anyone who’s worked for them in the last three or four years would say there’s an atmosphere of fear; fear of losing your job or being made redundant.

Oddie resigned from Springwatch after suffering from bipolar disorder. He now says: “When I turned 70, it struck me that you had someone from the top looking down, saying, 'Well, I think we could run Springwatch for another five years, so he’s not going to make it, is he? Better get young Packham.’ ”

He is scathing about the BBC’s move to Salford: “God, Almighty, do I sympathise with anyone who’s been asked. I know they say they are spreading the BBC, but they should have thought of that after the war, not now.”