One of BBC Scotland’s best-known presenters has announced she is leaving the broadcaster as it moves forward with controversial plans to reduce its workforce.
Anne McAlpine, who is widely recognised for presenting the flagship news programme Reporting Scotland, said on social media that she is stepping down from her permanent position after 14 years with the corporation.
Her departure comes as the BBC plans to remove 60 roles in Scotland as part of a wider programme to cut around a tenth of its overall staff. Former BBC Scotland broadcaster Douglas Fraser has claimed senior presenters are being forced to compete with one another to retain their jobs.
Ms McAlpine said she was “heading into a new chapter” with “a huge amount of gratitude” for the people, friendships, adventures and memories that had made her time at the BBC so special.
The 40-year-old presenter, who has also hosted the farming and countryside programme Landward, reflected on the remarkable range of assignments she had undertaken during her BBC career.
“There have been elections and documentaries, [Gaelic news programmes] Eòrpa and An Là, farms and parliaments, planes and boats, live television and long days in places I never expected to find myself – from Chernobyl to the Calais camp,” she said.
“I’ve covered news, weather, politics, sport, culture and rural life, collected an impressive number of hats and accumulated more tales than I know what to do with. It’s been a blast. I’ve learned an enormous amount, laughed, cried, travelled further than I ever could have imagined and met my wonderful husband along the way.”
Ms McAlpine said she would continue working in broadcasting as a freelancer. The BBC also confirmed that she will remain the narrator of Scotland’s Home of the Year, which is produced by an independent company.
BBC Scotland presenter Anne McAlpine has fronted Reporting Scotland
She added that she had been working on a new project with her production company for BBC Alba, but said more details would be revealed when contractual restrictions allowed.
Her exit comes as the BBC seeks to save £500 million and cut as many as 2,000 jobs.
The future of the BBC Scotland channel is also uncertain amid concerns over its reportedly high cost per viewer. The Mail reported last week that almost 50,000 people in Scotland had stopped paying the television licence fee during the past year.
Douglas Fraser, the former BBC Scotland business and economy editor who left in March, recently discussed the job cuts at his former employer on the online platform Substack.
“Uncertainty is high: morale is low. Nine people are senior presenters at present. When the music stops, there will be seven seats left,” he wrote.
He said those at risk included “the ubiquitous Martin Geissler”, radio veterans Gary Robertson and Hayley Millar, former Aberdeen reporter Fiona Stalker, and “all the Lauras”: Goodwin, Maciver, Maxwell and Miller.
Former BBC Scotland business and economy editor Douglas Fraser
Mr Fraser’s comments followed warnings from fellow former BBC Scotland journalist James Shaw, who accused bosses of failing in their “duty to manage and preserve the value of a vital public asset” amid significant changes to Radio Scotland.
Writing on Substack, Mr Shaw said working as a journalist at the station had become “increasingly difficult” following a long history of cuts. He added that a “new wave of cuts is about to hit” and questioned what would remain when it was over.
In her Instagram announcement, Ms McAlpine described her departure as “very much a ‘see you soon’ rather than ‘goodbye’”.
Fellow BBC Scotland presenter Laura Maciver was among those to comment, writing: “Nobody does hats better, beautiful Anne! It’s always been a joy. Can’t wait to see what you do next.”
A spokesman for the BBC said: ‘As announced earlier this year, the BBC needs to save at least £500million over the next three years across the organisation.
‘BBC Scotland is making proportionate savings, and a review across all of our departments is ongoing as part of the process.’
He added that Ms McAlpine finished her stint with Reporting Scotland last week and will depart later this month.
