Woman’s Hour: Emma Barnett announced as new host of long-running BBC radio series

Current presenters Dame Jenni Murray and Jane Garvey have announced they are stepping down

Emma Barnett has been named as the new host of Woman’s Hour. 

The long-running BBC Radio 4 talk show recently announced that its current presenters, Dame Jenni Murray and Jane Garvey, would be stepping down.

Barnett, who is known for her work on 5 Live and Newsnight, has already presented Women’s Hour’s late-night spin-off and regularly chairs the Woman’s Hour Power List.

BBC media editor Amol Rajan said that no decision has yet been made on Barnett’s co-host.

Rajan also described the recent departures of Murray and Garvey as “coincidental”.

Barnett will assume the post in January 2021, which will bring an end to her work on 5 Live.

She said: “I have a long love of Woman’s Hour and live radio and know that this is a very special and rare opportunity.

“What adventures we are going to have together - all starting in the year that this BBC institution, the radio mothership, turns 75.”

Woman’s Hour first launched in 1946 on the BBC Light Programme, and is one of the longest-running series on UK radio.

Garvey, who has presented the series for 13 years, announced last week that she would be departing, and will host her own Radio 4 show next year.