Why does Paddy McGuinness keep getting TV jobs at the BBC? After a string of flops and plummeting ratings, KATIE HIND exposes the three top female execs ‘obsessed’ with the star

You might think that the termination of two primetime shows would mean the end of any television host’s career. And yet, despite being guilty of exactly that, there is somehow still life in Paddy McGuinness’ job prospects at the BBC.

He was hired by Beeb bosses who hoped to make him their new golden boy and was given two of their most profitable programmes: A Question Of Sport and Top Gear, where he replaced the much-loved Sue Barker.

While the collapse of the latter was a more complex – but still deeply catastrophic – event, the grim end of the Sporting Issue is easier to decipher: it was canceled after just two series on McGuinness’s watch after ratings fell from four million in 2021 to just 800,000 in 2023.

Imagine their surprise, then, when some colleagues at the Corporation learned that secret meetings had been taking place for several months at BBC Studios, the Corporation’s commercial arm, devoted entirely to the Lancashire-born comedian finding a new job as a presenter.

I was told that some senior bosses, nicknamed Project Paddy, were ‘desperate’ to give McGuinness a programme.

Indeed, this trio of middle-class, middle-aged female senior television executives are so devoted to their men that they have even been jokingly described to me as ‘Paddy’s harem’. They even told me they were pushing McGuinness towards the vacancy on Strictly Come Dancing – which thankfully failed miserably.

But their efforts eventually paid off. It was announced this week that McGuinness will host the reboot of 90s snooker-themed competition show Big Break, which has been off air for 24 years. McGuinness, 52, was introduced to great fanfare on Tuesday alongside seven-time world snooker champion Stephen Hendry.

McGuinness will take on the hosting role previously held by canceled comedian Jim Davidson, while Hendry will take on snooker pro John Virgo’s role of showcasing trick shots.

McGuinness, 52, was introduced to great fanfare on Tuesday alongside seven-time world snooker champion Stephen Hendry.

McGuinness will take on the presenting role previously held by canceled comedian Jim Davidson (left), while Hendry will take on the role of former snooker pro John Virgo (right) to showcase trick shots.

BBC bosses appeared to believe McGuinness’s ‘ladylike’ image – polished by her muscular appearance on the cover of Men’s Health Magazine recently – would win over potential Big Break viewers, who are generally thought to be male.

However, the response to McGuinness’ appointment did not go quite as they had hoped. Instead, there was genuine consternation over how McGuinness, who has lately been better known for his public divorce from wife Christine than for his television roles, was given another role hosting one of the broadcaster’s former programmes.

The duo, once seen as a healthy couple and McGuinness widely seen as a family man, became prominent figures in the autism community when it was revealed that all three of their children had autism.

But their divorce soon took a nasty turn. Friends tell me McGuinness made his ex-wife sign a confidentiality agreement to prevent her from talking about their marriage, which she vehemently denies.

McGuinness also has a ladies’ man scent around him and has been linked to former Sky Sports presenter Kirsty Gallacher since her divorce. Meanwhile, Christine described herself as a ‘five-star lesbian’.

Friends tell me McGuinness made his ex-wife sign a confidentiality agreement to prevent her from talking about their marriage; but he vehemently denies this (photo taken in 2018)

As a result, despite these professional and personal challenges, McGuinness does not look like a classic BBC appointment, at least on paper.

It’s hardly surprising, then, that the question I’ve been asked for weeks is what it is about McGuinness that the BBC values ​​so much.

While I’ve yet to meet a woman who can stand watching it on TV, the answer lies in the tight-knit trio of women in the TV world; jokingly called ‘Paddy’s harem’.

All three are said to be ‘obsessed’ with her and those who know the women say they worked with her on the ITV dating show on which she made her name (Take Me Out), which ran for 11 series between 2010 and 2019.

One of them said: ‘These women love Paddy so much. They had filmed Take Me Out with him years ago and they adored him.

‘Forget the fact that people don’t like watching him on TV and he literally killed the Question of Sport and contributed to the end of Top Gear, they think he’s the best thing to ever come to the BBC.’

The most senior of the women is Suzy Lamb, managing director of all entertainment programming at BBC Studios and the woman who pushed for McGuinness to host late last year following the departures of Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman.

“Forget the fact that people don’t like watching him on TV, he killed Question of Sport and contributed to the end of Top Gear, they think he’s the best thing to ever come to the BBC,” says a source who knows the female trio.

McGuinness presented Top Gear alongside former cricket star Freddie Flintoff and Chris Harris from 2019 to 2022

In 2022, McGuinness hosted BBC game show I Can See Your Voice alongside Alison Hammond (centre left), Jimmy Carr (L) and Amanda Holden (R).

Lamb, who had few fans at BBC HQ, joined BBC Studios in 2018. A year later, he became the force behind McGuinness co-presenting Top Gear alongside former cricket star Freddie Flintoff and Chris Harris. Following poor reviews, the program ended in disaster when Flintoff suffered a life-changing car accident while filming the programme.

But Lamb still decided to enlist his old friend to replace Barker as the new host of The Sports Question in 2021; This happened with very predictable results.

‘It hasn’t gone unnoticed that Suzy is Paddy’s biggest fan,’ says the insider. He continues to defend her despite what happened in ‘A Question of Sport’. It’s become so obvious now it’s embarrassing. ‘He’d better be holding a sign that says ‘I love Paddy’.’

Alongside Lamb is Sumi Connock, one of Paddy’s cheerleaders. He was recently promoted from creative director of BBC Studios to Vice President of Creative Network & Formats at the company. He was heavily involved with much of his early career success at ITV until 2017 when he defected to the Beeb.

‘Sumi and Paddy get on really well,’ says my source. ‘In his eyes, Paddy can do no wrong. Take Me Out looked like it was at the end of its life when he left for the BBC and then Paddy suddenly took on Top Gear. It was one of Sumi’s big shows. Paddy was a wild card choice at the time, he wasn’t a car enthusiast.

‘He’s not a billiards player either; but that doesn’t seem to matter much when it comes to Big Break. ‘Sumi tells anyone who will listen how wonderful Paddy is.’

Finally, there’s Amelia Brown, CEO of Fremantle, the television production company behind shows including Britain’s Got Talent, The Apprentice and Beyond Paradise, and now Big Break. More recently, he was also the boss of BBC game show I Can See Your Voice, starring McGuinness. But it was canceled after two series in 2022, leaving McGuinness with no major TV shows to her name.

Brown’s role at Fremantle, which owns production company Naked, which produced Big Break, means he could be involved in the selection of the presenter.

“Amelia was gutted when ‘I Can See Your Voice’ was axed,” my source says. ‘Like Paddy, he really struggled after that. But it looks like Amelia found him a job as soon as possible.

‘Paddy is a very, very lucky man indeed.’