The BBC's 25 highest-paid stars revealed
Rita Lobo
19 July 2017
Beeb's biggest earners
The BBC has revealed the salaries of some of its biggest stars for the first time ever. Anyone in the corporation being paid more than £150,000 a year has seen details of their pay packets exposed. With close to 100 stars earning big money, the information is likely to cause a stir in the industry, particularly as only a third of them are women. Here are the 25 highest earners.
Brian Cox £250,000-£299,999
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Physicist Dr Brian Cox has been a regular on the BBC since the mid-2000s. He has fronted a number of well-loved science programmes like Why Does E-mc2 and The Quantum Universe, as well as The Science of Dr Who. He currently presents BBC Radio 4 science series The Infinite Monkey Cage.
Zoë Ball £250,000-£299,999
Zoë Ball shot to fame as the first ever female presenter of Radio 1’s Breakfast show in 1997. Since then she has presented a series of radio and TV programmes and appeared as a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing in 2005, where she finished in third place. She currently presents BBC Radio 2’s Saturday afternoon slot and Strictly spin-off It Takes Two.
Nick Knowles £300,000-£349,999
Best known for his popular series DIY SOS, which he has presented since 1999, Nick Knowles also presents game shows like Who Dares Wins, and one-off sporting and entertainment specials.
Lauren Laverne £300,000-£349,999
Former musician and TV personality Lauren Laverne has been on the helm of a popular 6 Music show since 2009. She also presents Late Night Woman’s Hour on Radio 4 and is a prominent member of the BBC’s broadcasting staff at Glastonbury Festival every year.
Eddie Mair £300,000-£349,999
Eddie Mair has been at the helm of Radio 4’s PM programme since 2003, and was highly praised for his vigorous coverage of the 2017 UK General Election. Mair also covered for Andrew Marr when Marr suffered a stroke in 2013, and has occasionally presented Newsnight and the 7 O’Clock News on BBC Three.
Sue Barker £300,000-£349,999
Former tennis player Sue Barker has been one of the main sports presenters at the BBC since 1993 when she was invited to anchor the network’s Wimbledon coverage. She is also currently the presenter of quiz show A Question of Sport.
Tess Daly £350,000-£399,999
Best known for presenting BBC1’s flagship dancing show Strictly Come Dancing since 2004, Tess Daly has also previously presented The One Show and Sport Relief on the network.
Simon Mayo £350,000-£399,999
Simon Mayo has been on the helm of his eponymous BBC Radio 2 drivetime show since 2010. He also appears alongside Mark Kermode on BBC Radio’s 5 Live popular review segment Kermode and Mayo’s Film Review.
Nick Grimshaw £350,000-£399,999
Nick Grimshaw has been at the helm of BBC Radio 1’s Breakfast Show since 2012, broadcasting daily to 5.4 million listeners. He also makes regular television appearances.
Vanessa Feltz £350,000-£399,999
Currently presenting BBC Radio 2's early morning show and BBC Radio London’s Breakfast Show, Vanessa Feltz has been a staple at the Corporation since she hosted her own chat show on BBC1 in 1998.
Fiona Bruce £350,000-£399,999
Fiona Bruce has worked for the corporation since 1992 and has fronted big shows like Crimewatch, and the now defunct current affairs series Real Story. She has been the presenter of Antiques Roadshow since 2008, drawing in 6.4 million viewers each week.
Alex Jones £400,000-£449,000
Jones was a regular feature on BBC Wales and other Welsh channels long before she got her big break in 2010 presenting The One Show on BBC1 – a position she still holds today. As well as occupying the hot-seat on the daily entertainment show, she also makes appearances in other important BBC shows like Strictly Come Dancing. In 2016, she documented her struggles to get pregnant in Alex Jones – Fertility & Me for BBC1.
Alan Shearer £400,000-£449,999
Retired footballer Alan Shearer has been a popular sports pundit for the BBC since 2006. He is a regular analyst on Match of the Day, and has played a big part in the BBC coverage of World Cups and European Championships since he joined the Beeb.
Stephen Nolan £400,000-£449,999
One of the big names in BBC Radio Ulster as well as BBC Northern Ireland, Stephen Nolan also has a regular slot on BBC Radio 5 Live. He has been on the corporation’s payroll since 2003, after he joined Radio Ulster with The Stephen Nolan Show, which has been on air ever since. As well as his regular gigs, Nolan also made regular appearances on Chris Moyes’ Radio 1 Breakfast Show, and presented the Children in Need Northern Ireland broadcast.
Andrew Marr £400,000-£449,999
After a career as political editor for many magazines and newspapers, Andrew Marr joined the BBC as political editor in 2000 and has been a mainstay of the network’s political coverage ever since. He has fronted the incredibly influential Andrew Marr Show on Sunday mornings since 2007, and also hosts BBC Radio 4’s popular Start the Week. He took time off from presenting duties after a stroke in 2013.
Nicky Campbell £400,000-£449,999
Scotsman Nicky Campbell first joined BBC Radio 1 in 1987, when he occasionally presented Music Box. He has since worked across the network and TV channels. He has presented Radio 5 Live’s Breakfast show since 1997, and he also presents one-off specials and documentaries on BBC1 and 2.
Matt Baker £450,000-£499,999
Matt Baker shot to fame in 2000 as the presenter of the BBC’s children show Blue Peter, where he remained until 2006. He has since presented a series of high-profile shows, most famously Countryfile, and appeared on Strictly Come Dancing in 2010, where he finished second. He also fronts The One Show with Alex Jones on BBC1.
Claudia Winkleman £450,000-£499,999
Claudia Winkleman is a well-known face across BBC channels. Her biggest gig is co-presenting BBC1’s headlining show Strictly Come Dancing, but she has also hosted BBC2’s The Great British Sewing Bee and the annual Film… review programmes. She has been a regular fixture on the network since 2002 and is the highest-paid woman in the ranks.
Steve Wright £500,000-£549,999
Steve Wright has been a long-serving radio presenter with his show Steve Wright in the Afternoon running daily for three hours from 2pm on Radio 2. He is credited with inventing the ‘zoo format’ of radio presenting, featuring many voices, sketches and irreverent humour. Since debuting at the Beeb in 1981 he has also presented the Radio 1 Breakfast Show and Top of the Pops.
Huw Edwards £550,000-£599,999
Huw Edwards has spent his whole career at the BBC, which he joined as a trainee in 1986. He has since served as presenter on the Six O’Clock News and been the main presenter on the 10 O’Clock News, where he remains today. He also presents a variety of special programmes, often with David Dimbleby, with whom he fronted coverage of the 2015 General Election and 2016 EU Referendum.
John Humphrys £600,000-£649,999
The long-serving presenter of Radio 4’s Today programme has had a prestigious career in the corporation. He reported from the US and South Africa and was the main correspondent during Rhodesia’s transformation into Zimbabwe in 1980. He returned to the UK where he served as Diplomatic Editor before settling into presenting the Today programme. He also fronts popular game show Mastermind, as well as several one-off specials.
Jeremy Vine £700,000-£749,999
Best known for his eponymous Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio 2, the broadcaster has been on the BBC payroll since the late 1980s. He also hosts Points of View, Panorama and has been the presenter of long-running quiz show Eggheads since 2014. In 2015, he joined the cast of Strictly Come Dancing, but was eliminated halfway through the season.
Graham Norton £850,000-£899,999
Graham Norton is the king of Friday night TV in the UK. His eponymous Graham Norton Show attracts four million viewers each week and frequently hosts high-profile Hollywood celebrities. He also fronts the BBC’s Eurovision coverage and is a frequent contestant on BBC Radio 4’s long-running show Just A Minute.
Gary Lineker £1.75m-£1.8m
Gary Lineker is one of the BBC’s biggest sports personalities. The former footballer has been at the helm of football highlights show Match of the Day since 1999, as well as being a leading figure in the coverage of many of the most important sporting events like the Olympics and World Cup. In 2016 Lineker signed a new five-year deal with the corporation, in which the presenter agreed to a rumoured £500,000 annual pay cut in exchange for being allowed to present BT Sport’s Champions League coverage.
Chris Evans £2.2m-£2.25m
Though Chris Evans had a tough year in 2016, he remains the BBC’s highest-paid star. He made his name on BBC Radio 1’s Breakfast Show, bringing in 7.5 million daily listeners at its peak in 1995. He left Radio 1 in 1997, but has remained a regular fixture across the BBC’s radio and TV channels. He presented The One Show between 2010 and 2015 before leaving to focus on his new role on Top Gear, after the original presenters left. After the show was a critical and commercial failure, Evans quit to focus on the Radio 2 Breakfast Show, which he has presented since taking over from Sir Terry Wogan in 2010.
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