Anne Robinson quits the Weakest Link

Weakest LinkAnne Robinson has quit BBC One’s general knowledge quiz the Weakest Link and will not be replaced.

The Guardian has reported that the television presenter has decided to quit the quiz-show after 11 years and nearly 2000 editions. The Weakest Link originally launched on BBC Two in 2000 and quickly became popular with viewers. It’s popularity helped it gain a prime-time slot on BBC One, while the daytime version continued to air, which tended to feature celebrities. The prime-time version was usually ‘themed’ on particular shows such as EastEnders or Doctor Who with actors from the series competing against each other.

In 2008 the BBC decided to move the Weakest Link to BBC One following the departure of the Australian soap Neighbours to Channel Five. At the time there were conflicting reports with what the BBC would replace Neighbours with and some reports claimed daytime soap Doctors would get an evening repeat in the slot or that school-drama Waterloo Road would be transformed into a daytime, all year-round drama. Instead the BBC eventually opted to promote the Weakest Link to BBC One on a permanent basis but the move meant the BBC had to alter its schedules and push back the CBBC strand of programming on the channel by 15 minutes.

Robinson’s departure from the show will bring it to an end with the BBC not opting to renew the quiz-show or seek to replace the presenter. It’ll mean another vacant slot on BBC One with the press bound to speculate as to what will replace it next. Possible contenders include other BBC Two shows such as Pointless or Eggheads or maybe the BBC will finally give Doctors an early evening repeat.