BBC chiefs move Wimbledon highlights show to graveyard slot after axeing presenting team

It has been a much-loved staple of summer for more than 60 years – and home to some of the nation’s best broadcasters.

But BBC chiefs have quietly moved the Today At Wimbledon nightly round-up of the annual All England Club championships to a graveyard 11pm slot.

The BBC is axeing the show’s presenting team and will instead broadcast an hour of basic highlights from 11 pm until midnight on BBC2.

It comes after a previous attempt to modernise the show proved wildly unpopular with tens of thousands of viewers.

Its hugely successful prime-time format was originally at 8 pm but later put back to 9 pm.

Controversial new BBC Sport boss Alex Kay-Jelski is thought to be behind the change as younger fans catch up on highlights via the BBC Sport website and app.

But a TV source said: ‘These woke new bosses have quietly axed a long-running sporting institution without so much as a second thought for the thousands of loyal viewers who still enjoy it and have paid their licence fees for decades.

‘It’s totally misjudged. This is all about chasing a young digital audience and driving people to the iPlayer, while completely disregarding older viewers as usual.’

First broadcast in 1964, it has been hosted by Clare Balding, Sue Barker, John Inverdale, Des Lynam (memorably partnered by Gerald Williams) and Harry Carpenter among others.

The show faced a major backlash in 2023 when the BBC tried to modernise the traditional analysis-based recap of the day’s play with a more digital and social media-friendly show hosted by Qasa Alom – best known for his work on the BBC Asian Network.

On Friday, the BBC released a lengthy press release detailing its plans for this year’s coverage – but made no mention of Today At Wimbledon.

It did announce new star signings, including Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi, Jamie Murray OBE, Genie Bouchard and Laura Robson.

Mr Alom appears to have been demoted to a commentator.