BBC rocked by huge schedule shake-up as slew of shows are axed to make way for EIGHTEEN hours of Election coverage
THE BBC has been hit by a mammoth schedule shake-up as the broadcaster will air EIGHTEEN continuous hours of Election coverage.
Main channel BBC One will see all of its morning and daytime output slashed in its entirety as part of the scheduling change.
In order to bring Britain up to speed with the results of the General Election, masses of fan-favourite programmes have been given the boot in favour of rolling news coverage.
The coverage will kick-off on Thursday evening at 9:55pm, just five minuets before polling stations close.
It will mean that the staple BBC News At Ten will be sensationally axed in a rare move in order to air Election Night coverage.
The rolling news will continue overnight and will kick BBC Breakfast off air as it continues beyond 6am.
In good news for BBC Breakfast fans, host Jon Kay will front part of the Election presenting team on Friday morning alongside Sophie Raworth.
Other shows including Morning Live, Homes Under The Hammer, Scam Interceptors and Animal Park will all be given the chop as coverage continues until 4pm on Friday afternoon.
It means that Brits won’t miss a second of the action when it comes to this year’s results.
Across the colossal 18 hours, a slew of BBC regulars have been chosen to be involved in leading the coverage.
BBC News star and Mastermind host Clive Myrie has paired up with Sunday morning host Laura Kuenssberg to become the leading hosts of the coverage.
They replace long-standing Huw Edwards following his departure from the BBC last year.
It means Laura is the first leading female presenter of Election coverage on the BBC and the pair will be joined by the corporation’s political editor, Chris Mason, for their time on air overnight.
Also joining the stars in the main BBC studio will be BBC News favourite Reeta Chakrabarti who will be analysing the results in closer detail.
BBC Radio 2 and Channel 5 star Jeremy Vine will appear overnight with the famed swingometer live from Cardiff whilst Kirsty Wark will be based in Glasgow and Andrea Catherwood in Belfast.
Fiona Bruce, Victoria Derbyshire, Naga Munchetty, Nick Watt, and Alex Forsyth will all be stations at various locations across the UK to deliver any important updates as and when they arrive.
From 6am, Jon and Sophie will take over from Clive and Laura with Deputy Political Editor Vicki Young taking over from Chris as the results start to settle.
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