Sue Barker reveals anger over "insulting" A Question of Sport sacking

Sue Barker has revealed the true nature of her exit from the BBC quiz show A Question of Sport.

In 2020, the former tennis star stepped down from the show she had hosted for 24 years, alongside long serving team captains Matt Dawson and Phil Tufnell.

However, the way in which the BBC reportedly handled the process left Barker feeling “angry” and “insulted.”

In her new autobiography, Calling The Shots, the 66-year-old explains how her eventual departure from A Question of Sport came about.

MailOnline has revealed excerpts from Barker’s book.

“The countdown to the end had begun in October 2016, when A Question Of Sport was one of the first BBC shows to be put out to tender to independent production companies. I was on holiday when a few TV producer friends contacted me.

“They’d seen the BBC tender document and couldn’t believe my name wasn’t on it. Apparently the BBC wanted to refresh the show — with more diversity and more appeal to a younger audience. I was gobsmacked. How did they think I wasn’t going to hear about this?”

Barker made a welcome discovery when she found out the bidding companies wanted to keep her as the show’s host, with the BBC performing a U-turn and announcing they wanted to maintain the existing lineup.

However, two years later, Barker was given an ultimatum when she was offered a further two-year contract. In the final year of her deal, she was told the BBC would be looking to introduce new captains to replace Dawson and Tufnell.

“I didn’t need to think long about this: I said I’d leave with the boys,” she revealed. “Nothing was decided over that next year so we all got another extension to our contracts.”

In 2020, the bombshell was dropped that the BBC would be evolving A Question of Sport