A list of the highest-paid BBC stars has been revealed for the first time ever, revealing the salaries of those who are paid more than £150,000 by the broadcaster.
Chris Evans topped the list, earning up to £2.25 million for his work as a presenter and radio show host. Gary Lineker, presenter of the BBC’s long-running Match of the Day, came in at second earning up to £1.8 million. Graham Norton also earns a sizable sum for his work on The Graham Norton Show, bagging up to £899,000 annually. The BBC’s highest-paid female celebrity, Claudia Winkleman, earns up to £500,000 — less than a quarter of Evans’s pay packet.
The earnings list also revealed the different salaries given to those working on the same show, with Strictly Come Dancing judges Len Goodman and Bruno Tonoli earning up to £250,000 each, while Craig Revel Horwood and Darcey Bussell earn up to £200,000. Tess Daly, Winkleman’s Strictly co-host, earns up to £400,000.
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The report reveals how 25 men featured on the list earn more than £250,000, compared to just nine women. The BBC reports that it is looking to fix this gender pay gap in the future.
The BBC reportedly fought back against the ruling, with Director-General Tony Hall telling staff that doing so would be “inflationary.” “I don’t think it’s right that we should have names against salaries for stars, for presenters and others”, Hall said. “I believe that will be inflationary, which I think will be bad for license fee payers, and I also believe it will be a poacher’s charter.”
Hall also commented on what readers of the earning summary should expect to see. “I completely understand that to lots and lots of people these are very large sums but we are a broadcaster, a global broadcaster, in a very competitive market,” he told BBC Radio 4.
“And we have to be competitive but not foolishly.
“No-one would want us to be paying sums where it’s not at a discount to the market. People expect us to have great broadcasters, great presenters, great stars but pay them less than they would get in the market.”
Hall pointed out how competition from rival broadcasters ITV and Channel 4, along with streaming platforms such as Netflix, required them to fork out high amounts for their presenters to ensure that they’d remain with the broadcast. However, Hall believes that by revealing the salaries of its stars, this could lead to increased competition which would ultimately cause the cost of its services to increase, which would cause the cost of the license fee to increase.
