Michael Aspel, 91, addresses ‘irony’ of BBC Antiques Roadshow axe after being ‘eased out’ over age

With a career spanning almost 70 years, one of Aspel’s most iconic roles was on Antiques Roadshow, where his presence was felt in homes each Sunday night on the beloved series.

He held the presenting role for eight years before he was “eased out” due to his age.

“I fell on my sword, because I knew they wanted me to go,” he explained to Radio Times.

The TV legend continued: “It’s ironic being eased out of an antiques show because of your age.”

Talking about changes to the show, Aspel went on: “Since I left, people bring along items from the 1970s, which for me seems like only a few days ago.

“Sometimes they have autographs of people I met during my career — the Beatles, film stars like Elizabeth Taylor and David Niven.”

Reflecting on what he misses about the impressive gig, Aspel admitted he misses the travel, explaining how he would “arrive at a venue and think, ‘I’d like to live here’ and then think exactly the same at the next place.”

However, he went on to quip: “Although, the hotels got worse and worse.”

The broadcasting stalwart isn’t the first to have accused the BBC of removing them from a show due to age, with the broadcaster having faced a string of “ageism” claims throughout the years.

In April, Steve Punt hit out at the corporation following the axe of his long-running radio series The Now Show, adding to increasing claims of ageism by the broadcaster.

The 61-year-old had fronted the radio show alongside Hugh Dennis since 2009, with the comedy programme having been on air for 64 series.

When asked how the news of the show’s axe was broken to them, Punt didn’t hold back as he admitted: “In a very BBC way!