She interviewed everyone from Margaret Thatcher to Joan Baez during her long-running tenure as the host of Woman’s Hour.
But five years after stepping down, Dame Jenni Murray says the BBC Radio 4 programme has ‘lost its way’.
The now ‘dull’ show has neither the intellect’ nor the ‘fun’ it once did, she claimed.
Dame Jenni, who is a Daily Mail columnist, said that she was no longer a regular listener to the programme she presented for 33 years.
‘I don’t make an effort to actually be a listener,’ she said. ‘I don’t think it’s sharp enough. It doesn’t have the intellect. It doesn’t have the fun. I think it’s a rather dull programme these days. It has lost its way.’
The longest serving presenter of Woman’s Hour, Dame Jenni, 75, recorded her final episode in October 2020. The programme is currently presented by Nuala McGovern, 54, and 48-year-old Anita Rani.
Dame Jenni quit after BBC bosses refused to let her chair a discussion about trans rights due to her gender critical views. ‘I’d been a completely trustworthy, impartial presenter for decades. I don’t think I’ve ever been so angry about anything,’ she said.
‘Funnily enough, I haven’t regretted it at all. I thought: ‘I’ll find somewhere I can go and openly express my views’.’ She told Saga magazine: ‘Woman’s Hour was wonderful because we spoke to such a huge range of people.
Dame Jenni Murray, who left BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour after more than three decades
Demonstrators gather outside the Department of Health and Social Care to protest against the planned clinical trial to assess puberty blockers in gender questioning children in London
A view of BBC Broadcasting House in central London where Dame Jenni Murray used to work
Nuala McGovern named as new Woman’s Hour host after Emma Barnett left
‘Sometimes it was politics, but sometimes you were helping them tell difficult, personal stories or share exciting things they were doing.’
Dame Jenni joined the BBC in 1973, starting out in Bristol, before moving into presenting roles at BBC South Today, Newsnight and the Today programme. In 1987, she became a presenter of Woman’s Hour, taking over from Sue MacGregor. The show tackled a huge range of issues during her tenure such as domestic violence and menopause.
Dame Jenni also said that she believed it was time that a woman takes the top job atthe BBC.
In November, director-general Tim Davie was forced to announce he would step down after it emerged that Panorama producers had edited a speech by Donald Trump to make it look as though he had called for violence during the January 6, 2021, riots in Washington DC.
‘One hundred years and it has never been a woman,’ she said. ‘Of course it needs to be now.
‘In fact, I’ve had quite a few emails from people who read my columns suggesting I apply for it myself, to which I say, ‘No way would I take on that job. It’s huge. You’re responsible for so many people’.’
Dame Jenni also revealed that she is no longer living with David Forgham, whom she married in 2003. They have two sons, Ed and Charlie. ‘Their father and I are friends. We don’t live together any more,’ she said. ‘It all happened because I’m a Yorkshire woman but London is where I like to be.
‘He didn’t really like London, so he happily lives on the south coast and I happily live here in London. And we are good friends and we talk to each other. We meet up.’
Nuala McGovern and Anita Rani were approached for comment. The BBC declined to comment.
