Ageism or a legitimate decision?

Discrimination against older women in the media has long been a hot topic but McCririck's case will provide a fascinating insight into whether older men feel equally sidelined.

Emma Satyamurti, an employment lawyer at Leigh Day & Co, which successfully fought an ageism case against the BBC for the Countryfile presenter Miriam O'Reilly, said the issues are not as overt as in other discrimination cases. In cases of race or sex, the claimant has to prove they were discriminated against by being treated less favourably than someone of a different gender or ethnic group.

"With age discrimination, even if the claimant can show they were treated badly because of their age, an employer has the opportunity to defend the claim on the grounds the discrimination was justified, a proportionate way of achieving a legitimate goal," said Ms Satyamurti.

It will be interesting to see if McCririck's legal team can prove Channel 4 is showing a bias against older presenters in general.