Victoria Derbyshire is said to be the next big name looking to walk away from the BBC as it's revealed Channel 4 had talks with the news presenter. 

Her Bafta-winning BBC2 show, Victoria Derbyshire, was axed in 2020 and the 53-year-old journalist has now been one of the leading BBC News Channel presenters since. 

But her £170,000-a-year role could soon be the victim of new cuts as BBC World News and BBC News merge to create a single 24-hour TV news channel serving both UK and international audiences. 

The Times says she has been looked at by BBC insiders to replace Emily Maitlis on Newsnight - who also departed the corporation alongside other big names Dan Walker, Jon Sopel and Andrew Marr - but Derbyshire is apparently looking for a new challenge. 

And she was being thought of for the Leeds-based role at Channel 4 but has not been appointed as bosses wanted someone who lived in the northern city.  

Channel 4's head of news and current affairs, Louisa Compton, apparently wanted Debryshire to join the team.

But Esme Wren, Channel 4 News's editor, wanted someone else and Krishnan Guru-Murthy became the main anchor after Jon Snow left the news programme. 

Under the shake-up by the Corporation, BBC Four and CBBC will end as linear TV channels and the BBC will cut up to 1,000 jobs over the next few years, it has announced in major cash-saving plans.

In a speech to staff last month, Director-General Tim Davie said the BBC 'must reform to stay relevant and continue to provide great value for all' and become 'digital-first'.

The changes mean the channels' content such as Blue Peter, Horrible Histories, Scandinavian hit the Killing, and Michael Portillo's Great Railway Journeys would move online and only be available on BBC iPlayer, with Radio 4 Extra moving to BBC Sounds.

BBC World News and BBC News channel merger will create BBC News, which will 'offer greater amounts of shared content', according to the broadcaster, but with the ability to offer separate broadcasts depending on what is happening in the UK and abroad.

It comes amid a rapid 'brain drain' from the BBC as a string of on-air talent has left for its rivals.

Maitlis, Sopel and Marr jumped ship for LBC in a golden handcuffs deal expected to earn them huge pay rises.

The journalists caused disarray at Broadcasting House after deciding to join Global, which is also home to Nick Ferrari, Shelagh Fogarty and James O'Brien.

While Breakfast presenter Dan Walker ditched a £295,000-295,999 salary at the BBC for Channel 5 News earlier this year. 

Maitlis, who hosted Newsnight, had a series of impartiality complaints against her because of her tweets and on-air comments about the pandemic.

Marr is said to have admitted he was prompted to leave the BBC because of his desire to speak freely on major issues, including climate change and politics.

Leading presenters Andrew Neil and Simon McCoy have also left the BBC in the past year.

While reporter Lewis Goodall also left Newsnight to solve the corporation's 'problem of left-wing bias', reports claim. 

The flagship programme's policy editor is ditching the broadcaster to join Maitlis and Sopel as co-host on their LBC news podcast, after apparently becoming tired of the BBC's drive for impartiality.

However, corporation chiefs are said to have let the 32-year-old - a former Labour activist who previously worked for a Left-wing think tank - walk away without a counter-offer, viewing his departure as a chance to reset the show.

One insider told the Telegraph: 'This is an important programme and one that it is vital we get right.

'We are determined to do that, and when people move on it creates opportunities.'

A BBC spokesperson declined to comment on these claims.