Miriam O’Reilly to leave BBC

MIRIAM O’REILLY is leaving the BBC a year after she won an age discrimination case against the corporation.

The former Countryfile presenter took the BBC to an employment tribunal when she was rejected for a role on a revamped prime-time version of the popular rural affairs programme.

O’Reilly, who was awarded a three-year contract with the BBC after the tribunal, recently set up a charity to provide “peer-to-peer support for women facing discrimination in the workplace”.

She said: “I have had a rewarding time at the BBC over the last year but am now choosing to move on and work on other projects for a while including my charity, Women’s Equality Network.”

Her high profile case came after the BBC had been criticised for axing Arlene Phillips as a judge on the hit show Strictly Come Dancing.