Channel 4 has hired The News Agents’ Emily Maitlis to present its general election results coverage alongside the Rest Is Politics’ Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart.
Maitlis, who was a regular face on the BBC’s results coverage, will co-host the programme with long-term Channel 4 News presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy.
Channel 4’s early announcement of its presenting lineup comes as broadcasters try to second-guess when an election – which must be before next January – will be held.
The broadcaster is also hoping to create a buzz around its show by capitalising on the increasingly influential reach of two political podcasts which had not been launched at the time of the last general election.
The Rest Is Politics has 700,000 regular listeners and is hosting a live event at the 20,000-capacity O2 Arena in London in the autumn. The show, made by Gary Lineker’s Goalhanger Productions, has been wildly profitable for its co-hosts – the former Labour director of communications Alastair Campbell and ex-Tory MP Rory Stewart.
In the past, Channel 4 has gone against the grain by hosting an “Alternative Election Night” featuring comedians providing satirical commentary in front of a live studio audience.
However, the 2019 edition, co-hosted by the comedian Katherine Ryan, descended into chaos. The studio audience loudly booed the exit poll showing a large Tory majority, Jimmy Carr attempted political analysis and Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley, was barracked while arguing with Robert Michael “Judge” Rinder about whether female fighter jet pilots could go to war while wearing burkhas.
At the time, Conservative party officials said that it was symptomatic of why Channel 4 should be sold – citing it as one of the broadcasts that led to the ultimately unsuccessful attempt by the government to privatise the channel.
This time Channel 4 is playing it safer, handing production duties to ITN and promising straight election analysis from Clare Balding and political editor Gary Gibbon – albeit mixed with contributions from the stars of Gogglebox.
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Meanwhile, the BBC is facing a challenge over how to replace Huw Edwards, who only took up the mantle of announcing election results to the nation in 2019.
Edwards remains on the BBC payroll but has not worked since the Sun published a series of stories about his communications with a young man last summer. He is not expected to return to the corporation and Mastermind host Clive Myrie is widely predicted by BBC News employees to be given the job of announcing who has won the election.
