Countryfile presenter Charlotte Smith set for return
Former Countryfile presenter Charlotte Smith is to return to the BBC rural affairs programme after being dropped in 2009 amid claims of ageism. Smith was one of several older female presenters, including Miriam O’Reilly, who lost their jobs when the show moved to a prime time Sunday evening slot. The 49-year-old will cover for reporter Tom Heap while he is on holiday for two weeks from 7 September. Smith currently presents BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today. I wonder what she will make of the prime time mass consumer content appeal – not quite the grittiness or on-the-ground reality presented in her Radio programme, or of the programme in its former iteration