Why I’m swapping TV for Sunday morning radio

Sunday morning politics shows are a relatively recent import into this country from the United States. In Washington DC, Chuck Todd is the twelfth moderator of the venerable Meet the Press. The programme was launched on the radio in 1945 and then taken to NBC television in 1947, sponsored by General Foods. CBS caught up with Face the Nation in 1954. ABC was the laggard with This Week from 1981, still years before British broadcasters had a go.

These programmes are variations of the same basic format. The day of rest is exploited as an opportunity for politicians to give longer interviews than their standard workaday lines-to-take, allowing them to be probed and discussed by journalists in a more considered way.

I was an assistant producer and political reporter at TVam when David Frost launched the UK’s first Sunday show in 1983. I presented the eponymous Sunday with Adam Boulton on Sky News for 17 years until 2014. From next weekend, I’m returning to Sunday duty with Sunday Morning with Kate McCann and Adam Boulton from 10am until 1pm on Times Radio, just as Laura Kuenssberg takes the Frost baton from Andrew Marr on BBC1.

Britain’s leading politicians did not take easily to turning out on a Sunday. David Frost salvaged a Sunday show from the chaos of TV-am’s start-up, which led to the departure of Angela Rippon and Anna Ford, two of the “Famous Five” in the breakfast ITV stations winning franchise bid. But when the 1987 General Election took place the Conservative leader, Margaret Thatcher, turned down the invitation to appear on the final Sunday of the campaign, much to the chagrin of Frost, who grumpily carried out his interviews open-necked with the party leaders we had booked: the two Davids, Steel and Owen, for the Alliance and Neil Kinnock. 

Fortunately, his interview with the Labour leader threw up one of the turning points of the campaign, and for Sunday shows in the UK. Kinnock floundered when asked how the country he led would respond to a Soviet attack. 

Nowadays one of the main functions of Sunday morning politics shows is to generate quotes for Monday’s newspapers. Back then the press didn’t really notice Kinnock’s discomfort until Saatchi & Saatchi launched an advertisement showing British squaddies in combat uniform with their hands up in surrender.

Conservative Central Office, which had just endured “Wobbly Thursday” doubts about victory, was delighted and suddenly warmed towards TVam. When I was asked how they could help our coverage, I secured Thatcher for Frost on the final Sunday before the vote. Now David Frost was embarrassed that impartiality demanded that he face the Iron Lady without tie-less. In spite of his sartorial insolence, equivalent appearances became a fixture for the incumbent Prime Minister from then on.

The BBC has seldom been an innovator in news and current affairs. It prefers to roll over into territory mapped out by its commercial competitors. It followed ITV with journalist-led news bulletins, Sky with rolling news and only went for breakfast television when it began on ITV. TVam launched in 1983. By 1984, the BBC had come up with its own Sunday morning politics show, This Week, Next Week, presented by David Dimbleby. This morphed into On the Record in 1988, presented by John Humphrys and Jonathan Dimbleby amongst others, and is best remembered for its opening title in which Big Ben turned into a crocodile. 

Margaret Thatcher did not hide her displeasure in 1992 when the ITV establishment came together to ensure TVam lost its broadcast franchise. Frost on Sunday was homeless but landed at the BBC thanks to Frost’s relationship, stretching back to the Nixon Interviews, with then-BBC Director General John Birt. Some of the BBC suits looked askance at the arrival of TV’s “Mr Showbiz” and they continued to run the starchier On the Record alongside Frost on Sunday for the next decade. Meanwhile, Frost was disappointed that he was banned from bringing his weekly photo-caption competition over from ITV.

ITV itself tried out various Sunday morning formats to replace Frost, notably with Jonathan Dimbleby as the presenter. But it abandoned the effort as its public service licence obligations were eased. In contrast, Sky News, the new independent rolling news service, saw such a programme as a key component of its output. When I moved to weekday presenting, I was followed on Sunday by Dermot Murnahan, Trevor Phillips and, to this day, Sophy Ridge.

Frost turned appearing on his show into an event for his guests, ably assisted by his producer Barney Jones. Cigar in hand, he liked to entertain them at breakfast after transmission. His legacy was that for many years his slot secured the lion’s share of big exclusive interviews. 

As far as British politicians are concerned this is no longer the case. Some of today’s Conservatives are vindictively critical of the BBC. More significantly, from David Cameron onward, party leaders have become increasingly reluctant to give extended interviews. The latest example is Liz Truss’s refusal to appear on the new Andrew Neil’s Sunday programme — innovatively scheduled by Channel Four in the evening. 

When they do appear, top politicians tend to spread their favours both on weekdays and on Sunday by doing a “round” of broadcasters, including BBC, Sky, Times Radio and LBC. When he was at ITV Piers Morgan’s perennial gripe was that Good Morning Britain did not feature on the list. 

Doing the rounds has long been the practice in the US, where CNN and Fox News vie with the original broadcast networks in political coverage. Competing outlets differentiate themselves through the quality of their questioning and analysis and the contexts, including other guests, in which they place the discussion. British Sunday shows are heading in that direction. The focus needs to be unapologetically on hard news and argument. The BBC’s tendency to stuff a BeeGee or a Kink on the sofa to leaven the mix with a tune — as with pop stars on Question Time — has not been an unqualified success. 

I’m a radio novice but I think that the portable, flexible and extended medium of radio is best suited to do what all the Sunday shows want to do: to inform the audience what is going on in the broad world of politics, this week and next week, to throw out some food for thought and to entertain. 

At any rate, Kate and I aim to serve up something special. I hope you’ll join us on Times Radio.