I’ll go quietly once I’m too old, says BBC presenter Kate Humble

BBC PRESENTER Kate Humble says she will not protest if her career ends when she reaches a certain age – because the absence of older women on television is a “fact”.

Several figures, including Anna Ford, Selina Scott and Dame Joan Bakewell, have criticised broadcasters on the issue, accusing them of banishing older women from the small screen.

However ex-Springwatch host Humble, 43, told the Radio Times that she accepted that her television career would not last indefinitely.

“TV is a fantastic job, but I have never wanted it to be my life. It’s also a job that you have very little control over,” she said.

“It can be all or nothing. At this point I don’t know how my year is going to pan out. That’s exciting, frustrating and nerve-racking.”

Her comments came after BBC director-general Mark Thompson admitted earlier this month that there were not enough older women on TV.

The presenter added: “If I get to the stage where I’m not being offered stuff and it’s a choice of being on the telly or on the farm [in Monmouthshire], the farm would win every time.

“I’m not going to start sobbing into my beer because I’m getting older and old women don’t get on the telly. It’s just a fact.”