I’m afraid that’s all I’ve got time for! After 25 years David Dimbleby quits Question Time at age of 79
- David Dimbleby took over Question Time in 1994 and is the longest serving host
- He announced his retirement in 2018 after almost 25 years at the show's helm
- Mr Dimbleby, 79, said it was ‘exhilarating' to bring political debate to the nation
David Dimbleby is the face of Question Time where he has spent over 20 years at the helm
After 25 years in the Question Time hot seat, David Dimbleby announced on Sunday he was leaving the BBC’s flagship political debating programme.
The 79-year-old broadcaster said he was leaving at the end of the year to become a reporter again.
Dimbleby said it had been ‘exhilarating following the twists and turns of British politics’, and a privilege to bring ‘voters face to face with those in power’.
BBC bosses described him as a ‘titan in British broadcasting’ who had been a ‘brilliant champion of the public’.
However, the corporation remained tight-lipped over who might replace him. Kirsty Young, the presenter of Desert Island Discs on Radio 4, is widely considered to be the favourite.
Other candidates are said to include Victoria Derbyshire, whose eponymous current affairs programme is on BBC2, and Newsnight presenter Evan Davis.
David Dimbleby pictured in 1974. The veteran TV presenter is standing down from the helm of the nationally loved Question Time
David Dimbleby married British cookery writer Josceline Gaskell at Kensington Register Office. He is now married to TV producer Belinda Giles
Dimbleby, who took over from Peter Sissons in January 1994, will sit in the chair for the final time on December 13. The programme was originally hosted by Robin Day, who died in 2000.
The veteran, who is paid about £450,000 to present the show, has presided over every BBC election night broadcast since 1979, as well as Budget Days and local, European and American elections.
He also presents the BBC’s coverage of the annual Remembrance Day service at the Cenotaph and other state occasions. Corporation chiefs refused to say whether he would continue in these roles.
The 2015 election was set to be his last, with BBC News presenter Huw Edwards due to take over. But when Theresa May announced the snap election last year, a behind-the-scenes tussle resulted in a BBC announcement that Dimbleby would present it.
Who could replace David Dimbleby on Question Time?
Victoria Derbyshire is tipped to be in the running to take David Dimbleby's job
Victoria Derbyshire
Victoria Derbyshire, 49, a Bafta-winning journalist and presenter, is also thought to be on the shortlist. The former Newsnight presenter is famed for her gentle but dogged interview technique. She won plaudits for making video diaries of her treatment for breast cancer.
Kirsty Young
Kirsty Young, 49, may be in with a chance after her widely-praised Royal Wedding coverage last month. The Desert Island Discs presenter was one of the original newsreaders on Channel 5 News. She also previously presented Crimewatch on BBC One.
Evan Davis
Mr Davis, 56, is a presenter of Newsnight. But having been found guilty of breaching the BBC’s impartiality rules last year after seemingly favouring Emmanuel Macron over Marine Le Pen in the French presidential election, Mr Davis’s likelihood of getting the role may be threatened.
Andrew Marr
Following a stroke in January 2013, Andrew Marr, 58, has suffered from ill health, but his efforts to continue with his Andrew Marr Show on BBC1 every Sunday have tested – and proven –his dedication to political interviewing and commentary. Marr, who earns more than £400,000, used to be editor of The Independent newspaper.
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David has hosted Question Time since 1994 and has become the face of the BBC's election coverage. He said 2015 would be his last but he returned in 2017 to cover the snap election
David Dimbleby took over Question Time from Peter Sissons who had presented the show between 1989 and 1993
David was married to British cookery writer Josceline Gaskell, with whom he shares three children, Liza, founder of the food chain Leon, Henry and Kate
David Dimbleby, 79, from Surrey, is a veteran broadcaster who has been the face of the BBC’s election coverage for years.
David Dimbleby has even appeared on daytime TV show Loose Women. He told the all-female panel about his first tattoo which represents him being a Scorpio
In 2014 he told how hard it would be to hand over the reins of the election coverage, saying: ‘I don’t have any instinct to make way gracefully. I shall be dragged kicking and screaming from my chair.’
Last night, he said: ‘At the end of the year I will have been chairing Question Time for a quarter of a century, and I have decided that this is the right moment to leave.
‘I am not giving up broadcasting. Instead, after years in the studio, I now plan to return to my first love: Reporting.’
Dimbleby, who at 75 had a scorpion tattooed on his back, began at the BBC 57 years ago as a news reporter in Bristol after leaving Oxford with a degree in politics, philosophy and economics.
He led the BBC’s coverage of the Common Market referendum in 1975, a role he repeated in 2016 when the UK voted for Brexit.
Although best known now for election nights and Question Time, he led coverage of the funerals of Diana, Princess of Wales, and the Queen Mother. His name has also been mentioned as a possible director-general of the BBC.
Last night, BBC director-general Tony Hall described him as ‘a brilliant champion of the public and the audiences’ friend – getting the answers they want on the big and difficult issues of the day’.
Presenters Anna Ford and David Dimbleby at the British Film Academy Awards Ceremony in 1989
In 2013 David had got his first tattoo aged 75 - a scorpion on his right shoulder. He announced he would stand down from the helm of Question Time on Sunday
Dimbleby has covered the most important news stories in the UK. Pictured: The BBC's studio set for an election programme with presenters David Dimbleby, Fiona Bruce, Jeremy Paxman and Peter Snow
The Question Time host is one of the most recognised faces in television in the UK
David Dimbley and his wife Belinda Giles at Browns Hotel. The pair wed in 2000, after first getting together in 1993
David Dimbleby David Dimbleby receives an honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Brighton in 2009
Television presenters David Dimbleby and Selina Scott were pictured together on the Thames in London
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