Antiques Roadshow experts forced to take pay cuts in latest BBC crisis

The experts on the Antiques Roadshow are proving not everything increases in value with age - effectively taking a pay cut as the BBC seeks to slash costs, a show regular says. While host fiona Bruce saw her salary rise from around £405,000 to £410,000 this year, the professional assessors on hit Sunday night programme, which featured Queen Camilla in 2022, were not so lucky.

Glass specialist Andy McConnell, 73, who has been on the Roadshow for 21 years, says he is now getting paid less than when he started. He said: "We got a pay cut. We used to get £725 for turning up at a location and appearing on one broadcast show.

"Then as they started to increase the number of shows per venue you got a 50% bump every time you appeared on a second or third or fourth broadcast show. And then they changed that so we are now paid £1,000 a show but no further bounces.

"So to all intents and purposes, I have had a pay cut. I am working for less now than I was in 2005."

Andy says the BBC is feeling the pinch of the licence fee being frozen for two years from 2022.

He told the audience at his Banter With Bonkers show: "They are really feeling it. And TV costs are rising.

"I spoke to the commissioning editor and said 'what about it?' and she said 'that is just a fact of life, like it or lump it'."