Vanessa Feltz slams ‘disrespectful’ BBC after Ken Bruce ‘ousting’

Vanessa Feltz, 61, has come out in support of her former colleague Ken Bruce, 72, who last week presented his final show on BBC Radio 2 after 30 years. Ken’s exit has been controversial, particularly as he was asked to leave three weeks before his contract was up.

TalkTV star Vanessa shared her thoughts in an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk.

She raged: “After this incredibly long and amazingly distinguished career, to oust Ken Bruce two or three weeks before he was expecting to go and before his contract had actually played itself out, I thought that was incredibly discourteous and disrespectful and unnecessary.

“What was the point of it? Why would you do that? Why would you leave yourselves open to criticism? Bad manners, lack of gratitude, lack of respect.

“It was an absolutely extraordinary decision and I think Ken must have been upset by it because he wouldn’t have mentioned it.

As for her own exit, Vanessa says she wanted to “take the bull by the horns” after seeing “all the old DJs basically being given their marching orders”.

As well as Vanessa and Ken, other much-loved presenters to have departed the station include Paul O’Grady and Steve Wright.

She explained: “I thought, well I’d like to go before [I’m given my marching orders] so I kind of took charge of my own destiny.

“I didn’t really want to, I was incredibly happy at the BBC and I really loved my jobs. I did two shows a day on Radio 2 and Radio London for 12 years, I was at the BBC pretty much girl and woman for about 33 altogether.

Radio 2 will continue to be a multi-generational radio station that serves a 35+ audience (a target audience which also hasn’t changed in decades).”

Vanessa joined TalkTV in September last year and now hosts her own three-hour show every weekday from 4pm.