The BBC has bungled Rev Richard Coles’s departure – it needs to treat its talent with more respect

There’s an easy way to tell that a curtain is about to fall for a beloved presenter at BBC Radio. Here’s what to look out for: any variation on the phrase “they are a much-loved part of the family”.

There’s something ominous about it. They said it when Nick Grimshaw left the Radio 1 Breakfast Show. They said it when Steve Wright was plucked from Radio 2 afternoons. And, oh look, here it comes again now, applying to the Rev Richard Coles, who is leaving Saturday Live on Radio 4 after 12 years: “Richard has been brilliant on Saturday mornings and very much continues to be part of the Radio 4 family.”

It’s BBC-speak for “hop it”. Coles’s final show is on Saturday..

And this seems, at first glance, like another example of the BBC letting talent go for no good reason. Coles is a wonderful presenter for Radio 4 on Saturday mornings; calm, decent, gently whimsical, interesting, reassuring in all sorts of ways. Coles has expressed disappointment, not just that he has left, but that the announcement has been rushed out days before his final show. “It’s a shame it can’t continue in the form it’s been in for a long time, which works, and which pleases listeners,” he told the Guardian. And “it just feels a little bit rushed… I’d rather have had a longer goodbye to listeners.”

But when I asked Radio 4 about Coles’s departure, the plot thickened. They were keen to stress that the decision to leave is Coles’s alone, and the BBC explicitly wanted him to stay. It’s just that they have moved production of Saturday Live from London to Cardiff, which is not within a tolerable commuting distance for Coles, who lives in East Sussex. Coles’s co-presenter, Nikki Bedi, will be continuing to present the programme from Wales, alongside a roster of guest co-presenters, starting with Peter Curran. Bore da.

The BBC said that the reason there was no big farewell announcement is because they’re discussing other Radio 4 projects for Coles, so essentially he isn’t going anywhere, Cardiff or otherwise. He remains a regular contributor to Pause for Thought on Radio 2 and will appear there in the coming weeks. Maybe he really is staying part of the family.

And yet this family is not a very happy one. Coles doesn’t feel appreciated, and wants us to know that. And this is where things fit into the broader picture of how BBC Radio is treating its on-air talent -- and how quickly it's losing it.

On Twitter, Kirsty Lang has expressed her sadness that she wasn't allowed to say goodbye when she left Front Row on Radio 4 after 19 years of presenting, and the BBC never announced her departure. Radio 4 seemed baffled by the popularity of Jane Garvey and Fi Glover, and blindsided when both left for Times Radio last year, even though any listener could have told the BBC what made them great: both are funny, clever, and appeal particularly to people over 40. Ken Bruce was upset that he wasn’t allowed to see out his contract before leaving Radio 2 for Greatest Hits Radio (as with Coles, this departure itself was Bruce’s decision). Is the BBC in a talent management crisis? Or do they just not understand the relationships that broadcasters develop with listeners?

Happily, fans of Coles have other ways to hear his voice while we await news of those promised future Radio 4 projects. Coles has his own excellent independent podcast, The Rabbit Hole Detectives, with Charles Spencer and Cat Jarman. In fact, Coles has been sounding a little less energised on Saturday Live of late, but perhaps that’s just in contrast with The Rabbit Hole Detectives, where he comes across as noticeably happier and more enthused.

The BBC's treatment of its broadcasters is one issue, but its strategy is another. Specifically, what’s the reason for all the furniture-moving and switching production of various shows to other corners of the country? The short answer is that BBC Radio currently doesn’t have a choice. It is following an overall BBC plan devised in 2021 to move more production away from London, and the idea is that this will improve its service and relevance across the nations and regions. Coles evidently thinks that Saturday Live is better coming from London, which is one of the reasons he’s left - but it's not up to him.

From the outside, so far there doesn’t seem to be much clear logic behind the new decisions about what gets made where. Saturday Live will be joining Any Answers?, Last Word, and the BBC’s Radio Science output in Cardiff, as well as Owain Wyn Evans’s early breakfast show on Radio 2. Gordon Smart has a new Sunday evening news programme on BBC Radio 5 Live from Scotland, and 1Xtra has a new show from Birmingham.

Does any of this make a difference to how it all sounds to us listeners? Is that the point of all this? I’m not sure, but if it means prioritising location over talent, the results could be hard to hear.