As we reported last year, one name who would potentially be at the very top of a more complete list is Michael McIntyre. He is effectively the corporation’s equivalent of ITV’s Ant & Dec, hired to front Saturday night shows throughout the year such as The Wheel and his Big Show.
Elsewhere, Bradley Walsh would likely feature for anchoring Gladiators and Blankety Blank, while Graham Norton would appear for commentating on Eurovision and his BBC One chat show.
Claudia Winkleman is another of the corporation’s biggest names, as the host of Strictly Come Dancing and The Traitors, arguably the BBC’s biggest new hit of recent years. She also filled in, external for Norton on his chat show this year.
Top Gear may have been rested, but its former lead anchor Paddy McGuinness now fronts a Sunday programme on Radio 2, and also took over from Gregg Wallace as the host of Inside The Factory.
McGuinness’s former Top Gear co-star Freddie Flintoff has similarly gone on to front Field Of Dreams following the motoring show’s hiatus.
Gregg Wallace may have been sacked, but until his departure he would have appeared on a more comprehensive list for the huge number of MasterChef episodes he fronted, as would his co-star John Torode.
Every big name associated with Strictly is missing, with Tess Daly, Shirley Ballas, Anton Du Beke, Motsi Mabuse and Craig Revel Horwood all unlisted.
The Apprentice has been one of the BBC’s biggest hits for two decades, but the star responsible for its success, Lord Sugar, does not have his salary published. His assistants Baroness Brady and Tim Campbell don’t either.
And the BBC’s other big business-based show, Dragons’ Den, does not list the salaries for its investors Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Sara Davies, Touker Suleyman and Steven Bartlett.
