Sally Nugent

BBC Breakfast viewers were left distracted from the headlines by a major new format change.

BBC Breakfast viewers noticed a major change moments into the programme.

BBC Breakfast returned on Monday, August 24, with Ben Thompson joining Sally Nugent as he stepped in for Jon Kay.

Headlines of the day focused on the Middlesbrough crash on Saturday that left seven people, including two police officers, dead, as well as the return of the Premier League, with a tribute to Kevin Keegan during Newcastle’s match against Liverpool.

However, viewers were left distracted by a BBC Breakfast format change, with the graphics on screen given a major revamp.

Instead of the red timebox and headlines running at the bottom of the screen, the studio background graphics are in blue, while the taglines at the bottom of the screen are now also in a red to blue gradient, and highlighting what is coming up in the show.

“Can’t the producers decide on ONE colour for graphics?” one person fumed. Another said: “These captions are annoying, get rid, if I want captions I will turn the subtitles on.”

“Why have they tried to make the graphics look like a mobile phone? They look ridiculous,” a third seethed. Another replied: “That’s what I thought. And I don’t like it.”

Someone else said: “I can’t concentrate on two things at once so I’m either trying to read that extremely small text or watching the news report.”

“Someone been at the crayons.. what’s with the colour scheme?” yet another said, as someone else wrote: “So weird.”

Another viewer said they “hated” the change, as one person added: “Might just as well watch ITV now they’ve put this s**t on the screen and dumb down completely.”

Someone else called it “really rubbish”, as another fumed: “Ffs – get rid of these annoying captions! They are very distracting & totally unnecessary!”

One added: “#bbcbreakfast have obviously misjudged the demographic of their early morning viewers with this new format.”

This comes after the BBC Breakfast team celebrated National Television Award nominations, during an edition of the show last week.

As two nominations include heartfelt documentaries from the BBC Breakfast team, Jon shared how “honoured” they were.

Meanwhile, BBC Breakfast’s rivals Good Morning Britain have been nominated in the Daytime category alongside James Martin’s Saturday Morning, Loose Women, Scam Interceptors and This Morning.

BBC Breakfast airs daily from 6am on BBC One and iPlayer.

Bookmakers have suggested Sally Nugent is the frontrunner for the BBC Breakfast position

Bookmakers have tipped Sally Nugent to take over from Naga Munchetty on BBC Breakfast.

Naga announced last month that she was vacating her seat on the sofa, having been with the BBC morning programme since 2009, and now talk has turned to who will replace her.

Coral has now shared some odds and Sally – who is already one of the presenters on the programme – is the clear frontrunner for Naga’s job.

She currently has odds of 1/2, with Coral’s John Hill saying: “Sally Nugent is already a familiar face on BBC Breakfast, and our odds makes her the clear favourite to replace Naga Munchetty on the popular early-morning programme.”

Sally started her career at BBC Radio Merseyside and also worked at BBC North West Tonight and BBC News.

She became a part of the BBC Breakfast team as a sports presenter and then in 2021 it was announced that she was going to be a regular presenter from Mondays to Wednesdays. She usually hosts the programme alongside Jon Kay.

Other TV stars whose names are in the mix include BBC Morning Live host Helen Skelton, who is currently at 5/1 to succeed Naga when she bids farewell to the programme.

Sarah Campbell, who already hosts the programme, has odds of 7/1, while former BBC Breakfast business presenter Steph McGovern is on 6/1. Journalist Tina Daheley is listed at 8/1, while Emma Vardy and Luxmy Gopal, both hosts on the show, are at 10/1 and 12/1 respectively.

Broadcaster and newsreader Victoria Derbyshire is also considered a potential candidate for Naga’s role, and is currently at 14/1.

Naga confirmed last month that she was leaving BBC Breakfast and that she will assume the role of presenting 5 Live Breakfast five days a week from January.

“It has been a privilege to be part of the BBC Breakfast TV team for the past 17 years, working alongside an incredibly talented and hard-working group of journalists who are not only outstanding colleagues but also great friends,” she said in a statement.

“Presenting a flagship programme on 5 Live is an opportunity that was simply too good to pass up. It will take a huge amount of work and require 100% of my focus and energy, and I’m really looking forward to throwing myself into the role.”

BBC Breakfast airs from 6am on BBC One.